Towers of Time
by Beckon
Summary: "Time doesn't run as a linear game, and for a Titan like Kronika, she should've known that. So either this was part of her plan from the beginning, or maybe just a happy little accident on her behalf." [MKX!What-If timeline/MK11 storymode spoilers]
1. The Three Lao's

Kung Lao had come to the Wu-Shi Temple expecting a fight.

And he had found one in the Wraith, Scorpion, who had been awaiting their arrival.

The Revenant form of Jade also provided an unprovoked battle, having stepped in as back-up when Scorpion failed to take either him or Liu Kang down. And while they both had been informed about their Revenant futures beforehand, which had not been an easy truth to believe, actually seeing a Revenant figure for themselves was disturbing.

Jade had once been a beacon of faith and loyalty, and had also been a proponent of fair-fighting.

And to see her like that, gray-skinned and glowing, armored in Netherrealm fashion- corrupted by a combination of Quan Chi's and Shinnok's magic.

He didn't want to imagine what he himself might look like.

But he didn't have the power to prevent that- and soon enough, he too came face-to-face with this future's perception of himself.

And he hated it.

To think that _this_ was his future before him- corrupted and glowing just the same as Jade had been.

This was not the life he had imagined for himself.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

He had won against Goro, restoring his ancestor's honor.

He was going to move on in the Tournament; he was going to face Shao Kahn and he was going to protect Earthrealm's sovereignty.

But to think now, just before he got yanked through the timeline, that he was only thirty seconds from having his neck snapped from behind instead; that wasn't how it was supposed to go, no matter what his literal future self was telling him.

Worst of all though, was that his Revenant form was proving to be a bigger challenge than he had anticipated.

Kung Lao blocked the swings his Revenant doppelganger threw at him, feeling each one slam into his gauntlets hard enough to vibrate the bones in his forearms. There was a pain that lingered behind each blocked hit, causing a numbing sensation to flood his fingertips and hands afterwards.

He dropped his guard once the opportunity to strike presented itself- only to feel a flash of hot pain as something tore across his face instead.

His footing stumbled as he was forced to back up in an attempt to recover, and he barely managed to do so enough to avoid a follow-up swing from the Revenant demon.

Managing to duck underneath the man's arm without recoil, Kung Lao moved to put room between them.

Fingers moved to his now throbbing cheek, feeling the hot blood running down his face now- and feeling the individual cuts that had torn through his skin like paper.

His Revenant-self had turned to face him now, and perhaps seeing his hand now pressed to his bleeding face, had raised the hand he had used to strike him with. And Kung Lao took note of the claws his Revenant-half bore on each finger. They weren't like the armored claws Jade's corrupted form had worn, which had also left a nasty cut on his right arm.

His Revenant-future's claws were natural; long and black, either naturally or painted- which both were weird enough on their own.

But considering just how badly the cuts were throbbing now, it wasn't like he could say they were a bad investment. He could only hope that they hadn't been poisoned or tainted- or anything else of that caliber.

There was no hesitation from his Revenant as the demon rushed him down once more- and despite him putting his guard up, Kung Lao felt the other man blow through it with ease.

A fist hit him square in the chest before the second one landed a gut-shot on him.

And even though he managed to keep his balance through the bombardment, able to keep up with the rushed fight, Kung Lao felt a hand still manage to grab him by the throat. His Revenant brought its knee forward and instead of an actual impact, he felt the armored spike on the demon's leg armor pierce through his left thigh.

The pain was hot, but there was barely a moment to focus on it before he felt the Revenant kick a leg out from underneath him before it slammed him into the ground.

Kung Lao could hear himself wheezing against the tiled floor, feeling the lingering, tight impression of fingers on his throat still; it had been a quick motion, one that still had his head rushing from the movement of, but he was just now realizing how tight the Revenant's grasp had been in those few seconds.

There was barely a moment to catch his breath as he started to get back to his feet, feeling the lingering weakness in his left leg- only to feel the sharp kick that landed against the back of his ribs. And he swore he felt them bend out of place for a moment, but thankfully refused to break.

The kick knocked the air out of him, but he rolled back onto his back to catch the next swing- only to feel the heel of a boot come straight down onto his chest. And he felt the weight that came immediately afterwards, pushing down against his chest-plate and diaphragm, making the next couple of breaths staggered.

The Revenant's other foot came around and pinned his left arm down by the wrist when he made the motion to counter, and he felt the weight threat to break it.

Not the best situation right now.

Kung Lao watched as the demon reached up and removed his hat, before he held it down towards him- spinning it against his palm now like a buzz-saw.

Didn't really take a genius to figure out how this was going to end.

His heart was racing and he could hear the blood pounding in his ears as he kept the movement of his right hand to a minimum- hearing his own hat, which had gotten knocked aside when he hit the floor, begin to spin just the same. He hadn't quite figured out the best point of attack right now, but all he needed was just one hit- just something to keep him alive for a little longer.

He could either do a broad shot to knock the demon off-balance, which should give him an opening.

Or he could risk it all and try to cut the man's hand off.

Might hurt himself in the process though.

Before he had the chance to act, Kung Lao watched as something made contact with the Revenant's chest, and the hefty 'clink' that followed implied how hard the object had hit the demon's armored chest-plate.

He felt the pressure on his left arm disappear as the Revenant stepped back to catch his balance. And it was the opening he needed as he brought both hands to the leg planted on his chest and used his own force to roll and knock the legs out from underneath the Revenant.

With the Revenant down, Kung Lao scrambled to get to his feet- feeling himself slip on his own blood before he managed to get back up. His left leg was throbbing and shook under the weight; he wondered just how deep the impalement had been. Backing away to give himself some room, he tried to figure out what his next plan of action was going to be- especially with his leg in the condition that it was.

Unfortunately, his Revenant was up just as fast as he was, sparing no wasted time to get back into it.

Especially now considering that there seemed to be a third challenger here.

Kung Lao kept his eyes on his Revenant-half, watching as the demon turned to face the new challenger instead. He watched as the Revenant blindly held a hand out to his side and summoned his hat back to him, collecting it from where it had been knocked aside.

He really hated that he recognized the motion; it just kept hammering in the fact that this _thing_ in front of him was really him.

And Kung Lao watched as fingers gripped the hat a little too tightly, going almost white-knuckled as red eyes widened in the same manner his had at his Revenant's first appearance.

He figured it was Liu Kang; the man's doppelganger must not have been too difficult to defeat.

"This is not an easy sight to partake in."

But the voice that called out was not Liu Kang's.

Kung Lao looked up as a figure moved past him before the figure moved to stand in front of him- putting themselves between him and his Revenant-half, creating a barrier.

Whoever this was, it sure as shit wasn't his partner.

But who else would be here? All of the inhabitants were slaughtered out front and no one else was permitted in this back area.

That was when his eyes landed on the dragon emblem on the man's back; a familiar-looking symbol that he had often wore himself.

His Revenant was distracted for the time being, and with the figure in front of him for safety, Kung Lao spared the moment to look the new challenger over- curious for who this new fighter would be now. If this person had managed to make it back here and avoided the traps, then they knew how the Wu Shi Temple worked, which possibly made them a Shaolin themselves.

The figure had a braid that hung halfway down his back; each crossing section was a mix of black and gray hair, implying that the man was well into his older years. But the broad shoulders and obvious biceps were a hint that the man's age wasn't slowing him down either.

And then he watched as the man held a hand out to one side, mimicking the same gesture as his Revenant-half, mimicking the same gesture he had always done.

And he watched as a bladed hat was summoned back to the figure's hand.

Kung Lao felt a cold feeling rush over him at the sight, before he spared a look to his Revenant-half, who seemed just as equally put off by the motion- and he wondered if they were sharing the same expression now.

There was hesitation before he forced himself to step around the figure and work his way around the man.

He needed to see.

He needed to know who this was.

Holding his breath, Kung Lao stepped around the man to get a look at him finally- and felt that sensation like his world was collapsing around him again.

The man was physically older and a little more refined in how he dressed, but the red-and-blue tunic was a giveaway, as was the metal bracers- and the shin guards that ironically matched the design on his own bracers.

There was no denying who the man was.

It was him.

_Again_.

But how was he here, as an old man, if this Revenant form was his future?

"How predictable I still am," the older version of himself spoke, as he fitted his hat back on- finessing a look he still clearly harbored well throughout the years. "And look at you," he continued, settling his attention on his Revenant form, "- still the way you are."

"What kind of trick is this?" his Revenant-half pressed, looking more and more unnerved by the minute.

"I've been asking that myself all morning," his older version replied. "Best guess is that Kronika's playing with your timeline, and in her attempt to gather allies from the past, she pulled out more than she bargained for. She's merged the past and the present together, bringing you two to face, but somehow in her attempt to play the God's hand, she's disrupted more than just the forwards and backwards of time."

There was a pause in the man's words, and already Kung Lao felt like he was losing track of what was being said.

"Time doesn't run as a linear game, and for a Titan like Kronika, she should've known that. So either this was part of her plan from the beginning, or maybe just a happy little accident on her behalf."

"You're not making any sense," Kung Lao finally spoke, and he was aware of just how quiet his voice was when he did. Once more he looked from the older, calmer version of himself to the glowing Revenant half that stood apart from them and then back again.

Seeing one future was enough- but a second one?

At least he seemed to have his shit together in whatever timeline the new guy came from.

At least he wasn't dead.

"How are you me if he's _also_ me?" he questioned, pointing to his Revenant as he spoke. "Where did you even come from?"

His older half finally looked at him, making eye contact with him- and he swore there seemed to be a smile on the man's face, if only for a few seconds anyways, before he turned back to his Revenant.

"Technically, I'm from an alternate timeline," the man spoke.

"A- what? An alternate timeline?" Kung Lao repeated, unsure if that even made sense when he said it aloud. But his older self nodded as though it was the simplest answer to understand. His head was racing trying to put together a puzzle that didn't have all of its pieces just yet. "Okay so, I- we- _I_ didn't die in your timeline then? I don't turn into that _thing_?"

"He's not a _thing_," his older self corrected, and there almost seemed to be this bite in his words when he said them. The man shook his head before he looked back to his Revenant half, who had gone oddly quiet now. "We still die at the Tournament," he spoke. "We still turn into a Revenant- but we don't stay as one."

And the words seemed to snap his Revenant-form back to attention.

"What do you mean you don't stay?" the demon questioned.

And there was this sense of disbelief in his tone.

"I've only heard a few words in passing of how things have progressed in this timeline," his older-self spoke. "In this timeline, only Grandmasters Hanzo and Kuai Liang, as well as Jax were rescued during the siege on Quan Chi's fortress."

The man paused as though awaiting confirmation, to which Kung Lao only shrugged.

"That's correct," his Revenant nodded.

"In my timeline, we were all there," his older-self continued. "It was a close battle but in the end, Earthrealm forces prevailed and Quan Chi's magic was destroyed- freeing all of us and putting the Netherrealm war to an end. We had only been Revenants for five years by that point, myself included. How long has it been for you?"

The pocket of silence that followed the question convinced Kung Lao to spare a look towards his Revenant-half now.

And there was hesitation to be read from him now.

"Twenty-seven years."

He swore he saw his older version flinch at the answer, as though he himself took the words hard.

"I'm sorry."

As odd as it seemed to him, the words sounded genuine towards his Revenant-half, who once more seemed as equally put off by them as Kung Lao was.

But it didn't take long before the Revenant straightened himself back up.

"Do you expect me to _believe_ that?" the demon pressed. "You expect me to believe that you were ripped from an unaffected timeline and just happened to find yourself here? And that you were once the same as me?"

"Do you _doubt_ me?" his older form pressed in return. "Because if so, ask me whatever you think might help to sway you."

Kung Lao watched as his Revenant-half eyed his elder half over, showing a sense of distrust immediately- as though put off-guard by the answer and hesitant to go through with the challenge. For a moment, he wasn't convinced that the demon would actually do anything; nothing more than possibly bait his older half into a motion that would leave him open to attack.

"Here, I'll do you one better," his older-half spoke instead, as he stepped forward and held his right arm out for the Revenant to see. His other hand pulled up on his long sleeves, revealing his upper arm- revealing how it was littered in pale-white scars, twisted and curled over his skin. The scar tissue had knotted in a way that it protruded just slightly outwards, making each scar more and more apparent.

It didn't hold much significance to him.

At least not until Kung Lao watched as his Revenant counterpart touched at his own arm- fingers grazing across one of the carvings that glowed on his skin.

And the sight was enough to trigger the significance of the act.

Each scar on his older self's arm mirrored where one of the carvings was on his Revenant's arm.

And there were too many of them to be considered a coincidence.

"And if that's not good enough for you," his older half continued, "you still got that scar on your face, don't you?"

Kung Lao watched as his older half touched fingers to his left cheek- and watched as his Revenant-half hesitated before touching the same spot. And there was this look of realization on the demon's face, as though he already knew what the other man was going to say.

"We were all in a bad place, but to be honest, Kitana was a bit of a bitch when she was dead," his older half spoke. "Or perhaps it was just us running our mouth at her. She stabbed us through the cheek with one of her fans, didn't she? And if we hadn't already been in the middle of talking, it would've broken our teeth- although it did almost sever our tongue when she pulled the fan out."

"How did you-"

"Like I said, I've been in your shoes before," his older half interrupted. "Anything from the first five years in the hell pit, we share as memories. Does that convince you any?"

His Revenant counterpart seemed to hesitate once more. "Okay... so you're me," he eventually spoke. "But what difference does it make? You're not me anymore- and you're not even from this timeline."

"Well, the idea I had in mind was that if I can connect with you and get you to understand me, then I can stop what you're doing here," his older self replied. "Kronika has sold you on an idea that she cannot and will not adhere to- and I cannot allow you to follow her."

"And just how do you know this?" his Revenant pressed.

"Raiden has said-"

"Raiden?!" his Revenant half interrupted with a spit. "The man who got us killed?!"

"Raiden wasn't the one who snapped our neck!" his older half countered, with an equal bite. "I get it, okay? You're still mad, you're still angry- and trust me, this isn't something you get over with easily. I was mad for a long time, but it didn't solve anything- if anything, it made things worse. You never really get over it, but you learn to accept it and move on."

"Wait, so Raiden did get us killed?" Kung Lao spoke, interjected himself into a conversation that had been talking over him.

And he watched as his older half glanced to him, a mixed look of exasperation and defeat on his face.

"It's more complicated than that," the man replied, before he looked back to his Revenant, "- and you and I _both_ know that. This isn't what we should be focusing on anyways, I just need you to trust me on this."

"You've given me no reason to-"

"No reason to- I _AM_ you," his older half interrupted. "I'm not you in this timeline but I am _still_ you- just like how you're him and I'm him too."

It felt like this was the first time Kung Lao himself had actually be recognized in the conversation- without having to jump in and interject. Not that he had much he wanted to say outside of the topic about Raiden, which seemed to be off the table for now. Well, actually there was still a lot he wanted to discuss, a lot he wanted to know; it was just the matter of wrapping his head around this whole thing.

So he died in the Tournament, got resurrected by Quan Chi and served as one of his Revenant minions with the others, which he still didn't know how any of them perished- and then something about serving Shinnok somewhere in-between that?

And now there was something about Raiden being involved in his death, even though Shao Kahn was the one who snapped his neck?

But now his other, alternate future self was here saying the same thing but in a different order? And with a different outcome?

Part of him just wanted to leave and leave this mess for someone else to figure out.

"You can still have what I have," his older half spoke, "there's still time for us to fix this."

"Kronika has that time-"

"Kronika _won't_ fix this," his older version interrupted once more. "Do you think this is the first time she's reset the timeline? Do you think this is the first time that we've died? If she gave a shit about us than neither of us would be here having this discussion. But it has been an endless cycle of us dying over and over again- maybe it's not always at the Tournament, but it happens somewhere down the line, and it's always before we get what's ours. Kronika isn't here for us; she's here for herself- for control and power. She'd no sooner wipe the timeline than she would wipe us from existence entirely. She's just using you to get what she wants and she's willing to play whatever role she has to in order to get you to protect her."

Kung Lao watched as the glowing energy under his Revenant's skin intensified, flaring up now through the carving in his skin.

"And what says that you have a better plan?" his Revenant snapped.

"Don't flare up like that, you're putting out dark energy," his older half spoke, although it did absolutely nothing to stop the Revenant from doing so. "We go back to the beginning, back to where this started." His older version paused before he turned towards him. "We send you back to where you belong, but this time with the knowledge of what we know now. We prevent the things in motion from happening. Shao Kahn snapped our neck because we didn't know what he had planned- but we do now, and we can prevent the first death from happening. And from there, we prevent the others from happening too- and we keep building. We take out Shang Tsung before Shao Kahn kills him and gives the power to Sindel, from that alone we save everyone who dies at her hands. We build our numbers and we gain more along the way. No deaths, no Revenants- Quan Chi has no army, no Netherrealm war."

"That doesn't guarantee-"

"_Nothing_ is guaranteed. Nothing but the same death over and over again under Kronika's hand," his older version continued.

"Wait, Sindel kills everyone?" Kung Lao questioned.

"If nothing is guaranteed, then how do you get Kronika to send the past back into the past?" his Revenant countered. "She's the only one who can do that. If she doesn't succeed in reversing time then the past is stuck here, where the events you're trying to stop have already taken place. Do you intend on getting to her Hourglass? Do you even know where it is?"

"Stepping stones, brother," his older half replied. "We'll get there when we get there."

"I'll take that as a no then."

"Okay, can we take a moment here and focus on me and what the hell I'm supposed to be doing," Kung Lao interrupted, as he stepped in- still tired of not having a voice in a conversation between literally two versions of himself. "I'm in the future now, and from everything I've gathered, it sucks, but _your_ idea is to send me back into the past with the memories of now so I can prevent myself from becoming some kind of Revenant Warlord?"

"Executioner," both his older version and his Revenant version corrected.

Kung Lao was caught off-guard by the synchronized response and watched as the other two both looked to one another afterwards.

"I hated that," he spoke. "What do you mean Executioner?"

His older version sighed and scratched at his jaw, bringing attention now to the stylized facial hair he had grown out. "We served as Quan Chi's Executioner," he answered, looking almost pained when he said the words. "We usually just killed demons, but we were good at it- and thankfully, at least for me, it never went past that."

"I serve as the Emperor's Executioner now," his Revenant-half spoke.

"Emperor?" It was now his and his older version's turn to parrot one another.

And his Revenant half really didn't seem to appreciate the motion.

"Liu Kang," his demon half answered.

"You know what... he can have that title," Kung Lao replied.

His older version shook his head, looking just slightly amused. "Liu Kang is going to hate hearing that about himself," the man remarked, before he turned to put his attention back towards their Revenant form. "We can solve a lot of problems with this solution, _when_ we figure out how to pull it off," he continued, making a pointed remark at the demon. "But my main concern is you."

When the older man took a step forward, Kung Lao was surprised to watch as his Revenant form took a step back in response.

He was keeping equal distance between them, which was also a common mimicking technique he used- in fact, it had been the one he used just before starting the fight between them..

"You can still fight this. I know what it's like to be you- it's _Hell_ and it's not who you are."

"Do you though?" his Revenant-half questioned. "Do you really know what it's like to be me?"

"No, I suppose not entirely," his older version admitted. "You're far worse off than I was, but I think I still know how you feel."

"And how is that?"

"You've been a Revenant for so long, longer than I ever was, you probably don't remember who you used to be before," his older version started. "And if you can't remember who you used to be, then your friends certainly won't either. And even if they did, you haven't been that person in so long, it doesn't even matter. They wouldn't want you back, not after everything you've done; they'll just continue to see you as a monster. So even if you have the smallest chance to be human again, what's the point, right? It won't be worth it- because nothing will be the same and you've already wasted your life. You'll never be able to regain even a shred of the humanity that you had before."

Kung Lao felt his skin itch at the words.

He hated to think that was even a thought process that he would have to go through- that anyone would have to go through.

He watched as his Revenant form's expression shifted, twisting into a look he couldn't quite describe other than pained, and even then it only lasted a brief second before it was gone. But it was enough to confirm that everything his older half had said was true.

And the hesitation gave enough of an opening to allow his older form to get closer without his Revenant-half maintaining the distance kept.

"I've been in your place and I can tell you exactly how it goes," his older half continued. "You will remember who you used to be before. The memories are slow to come back and each day feels like another identity crisis, but you eventually get there. And it's very liberating when you do, because for a minute, you get to feel normal again. And your friends remember you for who you were, who you will be again; I can assure you that they've missed you and that they'll recognize you the moment they see you- and it won't be as monster. You'll find out that they share a lot of regret for what happened, and in a very surreal way, they'll ask you for forgiveness instead. You do apologize for everything but they tell you it's not necessary; they know it wasn't you behind everything."

His older version paused and seemed to share the same, pained sort of expression as his Revenant had held.

"I'll be honest, your life won't be the same as it was before, and it takes a long time to recover from it, but you eventually get there. You'll make something new for yourself and... it'll be just as good."

It looked like his Revenant form was going to say something but couldn't quite piece the words together.

And instead, the possessed man opted to remain quiet.

"You're tired and you're scared, but above all, you just want to go home again."

There was this staggering sense of stillness between them and Kung Lao found himself not even wanting to breathe lest he break the hold between his two future selves. He didn't like the conversation; he didn't like how he was having to envision and come to terms with his future- but if they could come together like this, then maybe there was hope.

Maybe he didn't have to die.

And... if they could stop his death, then maybe they could stop everyone else's too.

"That's your life," the Revenant spoke, and his voice was oddly quiet- soft even. "Five years doesn't compare to mine."

"It doesn't," his older version agreed, "but that doesn't mean you have to give up on it."

His Revenant seemed to hesitate before he took a step back.

"I know they're calling for you," his older version started, causing the Revenant to pause. "If you go back to them, you rejoin the hivemind- and I can't guarantee that you'll ever get this close to freedom again. You're at your strongest when you're away from them; if you go back, you're just another mindless drone."

Kung Lao swore for a moment it looked like his Revenant was going to keep backing up.

And maybe he would have if his older version didn't hold a hand out for the demon to take.

"I can help you," his older self assured, "- if you do this for us, we can help the past, and we can both make sure that this won't happen, that this won't be our future ever again."

He watched as his Revenant's eyes looked to the hand in front of him before they glanced to him- and Kung Lao felt a cold chill run down his back; he felt his blood run cold before the Revenant looked away, looking once more towards the alternate future in front of him.

Kung Lao felt himself hesitate before he stepped forward, aligning himself with his more hopeful-looking future. "I can't imagine what you've been through," he started, "but I can tell you that it's not something I want to experience. And I don't think any one else who got pulled from my time want to go through it either. So... let me help you end this, and then you help me fix what went wrong with us."

There was a moment of stillness that lingered between them still, before his Revenant form moved to take his older counterpart's hand- and even then there was a second of hesitation before he fulfilled the motion.

He heard himself give out the breath he didn't know he had been holding- and his older version gave a sigh of relief as well.

"Good," his older self spoke with a nod, before he moved to clasp the Revenant's hand in both of his own- perhaps in fear that the demon might change his mind. There seemed to be a genuine look of relief on his face. "This will be the first step of many, but this is the hardest one to take- and you've done it."

His Revenant-half seemed to take little comfort in the words but nodded regardless.

"Okay so... what do we do now?" Kung Lao questioned.

As much as he wanted to fix the ongoing issues here, there was still some reluctance in accepting the situation as it was. He still didn't like his Revenant half, but more in the cause of it than the person himself. But if doing this would help make his future better than what it was currently, than so be it. He couldn't back down now.

Anything was going to be better than what he had been facing before.

Kung Lao turned towards his older counterpart. "A bunch of us came from the past, so... did more of you come from this alternate timeline?"

"Yes," his older half nodded. "Raiden from our timeline picked up on the disturbance just before we were pulled away. I think he sort of knew what was going on, what was going to happen, but he didn't have the full picture of how bad it really was. We weren't supposed to be here, but we are now- and after learning about what was going on from the Special Forces in this era, we set out to try and catch up to ourselves. I was lucky that I knew how to find you so quickly."

Things just kept getting more and more complicated.

"Is there a Liu Kang version of you?" Kung Lao asked.

"He stayed back at the Special Forces base to get a better handling on what's been going on," the older man replied. "Speaking of which, we should head back and meet with him. I told him that I wouldn't be long."

"Who else is here?"

"Raiden, Kitana, Jade-" the man started.

"Kung Lao!"

He turned at the call of his name, as did the other two.

Kung Lao barely spotted his Shaolin counterpart over the cloud of smoke and rush of fire that was rushing towards him- and immediately knew what was going on. In the corner of his eye, he watched as his older self moved, positioning himself in front of his Revenant, and he moved to shield the older man, bringing his arms up to block the oncoming strike.

The solid impact of the flying kick hit him dead-on and he felt the floor move out from underneath him as he slammed back into his older self, and felt the both of them hit the floor seconds later.

The pain didn't register immediately, but it didn't take long before it felt like his lungs were on fire- having been partly crushed between his chest-plate and ribs. He heard himself cough, trying to work the first couple of breaths out, before he pushed himself to his feet. And once more, he was reminded of the still open wound on his left leg.

"Easy, easy," Kung Lao started, holding out a hand to stop the other man as he tried to work out his balance. "Just put the fists away."

When he did finally straighten up, he caught the confused, and maybe mildly concerned, expression Liu Kang shot at him. The man was looking a little more cut up and bruised than when they had first walked in- so maybe the fight with his own Revenant hadn't gone as easily as he had assumed.

Kung Lao could see the way the man flicked his eyes between him and his Revenant and then back again.

His Revenant hadn't so much as moved an inch, having avoided the flying kick from where he stood.

Also having two people jump in to act as a shield probably had something to do with it too.

"What are you doing?" Liu Kang questioned, and the quiet tone of his voice would've been humorous had his expression not been so serious.

And despite him telling the man to put his fists down, he clearly didn't listen.

"It's a long story," Kung Lao replied, before he gestured back towards his Revenant. "He's fine, don't worry about him- he's gonna ditch Kronika and join us instead."

Okay so, bad way to start that conversation off.

"Why?"

"That's a sensitive subject and I don't think you should ask him that," he remarked, which only drew a questioning look from his counterpart now. "Like I said, it's a _long_ story- one that I still don't understand."

Kung Lao heard a subtle groan behind him and turned enough to watch as his older counterpart pulled himself to his feet now, a hand rubbing at his chest- more than likely where the impact had been transferred.

"It's been awhile since I've been hit by one of those," his older self spoke.

And Kung Lao turned back to watch as Liu Kang's eyes moved from him to his older self and then back again- and then to his Revenant. Each time he seemed to be examining their faces, slowly coming to realization at who was standing in front of him in three separate bodies and from three different timelines.

"There's three of you," Liu Kang finally spoke.

"Well, you know me," Kung Lao started, drawing a brief look of ire his way before he turned to point at the other two, "and you've seen my Revenant- and this is apparently me from an alternate timeline."

"That doesn't-"

"No, it doesn't answer anything," he agreed, "but that's what's going on right now. "

Kung Lao swore he could already hear Liu Kang's blood pressure and anxiety raising the more he talked- and the more the man's eyes kept moving from one to the other to the other, desperately trying to make sense of it. It would be one thing if it was just him and his Revenant, or just him and his older self, but all three of them in one room was even pushing it for him.

And technically, they were all just... _him_.

"So this is the Liu Kang here," his older version spoke, as he stepped forward, looking at the younger man in admiration. "Look at you, so young, you look like a baby- and you're wearing an actual shirt too, maybe this timeline does have its perks."

Kung Lao wanted to laugh at the look Liu Kang had, a mix of both annoyance but continued confusion- but he decided to spare the man for now.

"We need to speak with Raiden," Liu Kang started instead, putting his focus back on him. "My Revenant and Geras took off with the Jinsei energy and there's no telling what Kronika will do with that kind of power."

Shit.

He had forgotten about the whole ordeal with the Jinsei energy.

Well, maybe they had made a decent trade off then.

Jinsei energy for one Revenant.

"But it seems like we clearly have bigger issues at hand here," Liu Kang continued.

"Brother, you're telling me."


	2. The Burning Tree

The journey back to the Special Forces outpost felt twice as long.

Then again, their party number had doubled in the small amount of time they had spent at the Wu Shi Temple.

And the suffocating feeling of impending fear that kept hovering over him was another factor to take in as well.

Liu Kang couldn't quite figure out why the heaviness of it clung to his shoulders as it did, but at the same time there were plenty of reasons for the fear to be there. It was just the art of picking which reason he was scared of the most.

The fact that this wasn't their world, their time period that they had woken up to just that morning.

The fact that now there was a whole new enemy, a whole new problem to take on- with the heaviest stake they had ever dealt with.

He had only heard of Titans from his studies, but no one could really confirm nor deny their existence.

And yet he had come face-to-face with Kronika, one of the most powerful Titans of her kind.

There was also the constant reminder that they had failed to stop Geras from stealing the run-off Jinsei energy, and had failed to recollect it; so now the divine energy served to be another cog in Kronika's wheel.

The image of his own Revenant's face was still burned into his memory, and the words that the demon had spoken kept repeating themselves over and over again in his head.

Telling him again and again that Lord Raiden had killed him with his own hands.

The God he had put so much faith and trust into.

The God he had considered to be a good friend and mentor- and still did.

And yet, Raiden had betrayed him.

Liu Kang didn't want to believe it; it wasn't possible for Raiden to do that, to just turn on him- to make that big of a mistake.

He wanted to hear what Lord Raiden had to say for himself, once the Thunder God returned from speaking with the Elder Gods. Hopefully he was having a better time figuring out what was going on.

It didn't help that he was plagued by the repeating images of the massacre at the temple. The bodies of monks, of his own brethren thrown about and slaughtered like they were animals. He knew they had fought well and had given their last breath to protect the temple, to protect the Grotti Shrine, but the thought did little to bring him comfort.

He wanted to tell himself that it had been the Wraith Scorpion who had slaughtered them.

But he had no doubts that his own Revenant had played some part in the massacre as well.

Liu Kang broke from his thoughts as he felt a hand on his shoulder, and felt an affirming squeeze seconds later.

The hand felt heavier than it should've been.

"Who knew this day could get worse, am I right?" Kung Lao offered, walking next to him.

The break in silence was enough to bring Liu Kang back to focus, reminding him of where he was and where they were going- and of their extra party members who trailed behind them in their own group.

He was still in shock, maybe denial about seeing a Revenant to begin with, let alone his own, let alone Kung Lao's as well. And then add in some kind of alternate timeline version of his counterpart too and it was just another weight to be added.

The alternate version of Kung Lao seemed so refined, putting off this sense of grace and mastery that Master Bo' Rai Cho did. There was a difference in the way he spoke, in the way he held himself; there was this odd, gentle nature he expressed even when speaking to the Revenant version of himself from this timeline. He spoke to the demon like he was an old friend, enough so to carry on a conversation with the Revenant as though it was perfectly normal.

Perhaps not technically far off from the Kung Lao that he knew, but his alternate version seemed to reflect the person everyone wanted Kung Lao to be right now.

Despite the sense of grace, the evident years however, it couldn't be avoided that the man still kept his hat around.

It seemed like there were some things not even Kronika herself could change.

"Started off by beating Goro, and now I'm here, in a future where I'm dead but also kind of alive- and also the old man version of me is here. And right now, he's talking to the dead me, and I think they're talking about being dead."

Liu Kang couldn't shake the feeling of how quick he had been to dismiss his Revenant and vice versa.

And yet, Kung Lao had managed to persuade his own to abandoned Kronika's cause- with the help of his alternate self, of course, but the fact remained.

"Give it time," Liu Kang assured, "I'm sure I'll be in the same boat soon enough."

"What do you think you'll look like?" Kung Lao questioned. "Because I gotta admit, I look pretty good."

Liu Kang would be lying if he said he hadn't been thinking about it the moment he saw Kung Lao's future human-self- and heard the man confirm that he too had an alternate self from the same timeline. Despite an alternate timeline and a couple decades between them, Kung Lao's alternate self looked remarkably just like him still, even down to his sense of fashion.

"However he looks, I hope it's better than my Revenant," Liu Kang replied.

"Best of luck then."

He chuckled at the remark, glad to have some uplifting words- even if they were at his own expense.

But it didn't take long before his thoughts drifted back to the temple.

They had witnessed Jade's own Revenant as well, which had been their first glimpse into what this future held for them- including her open interaction with Scorpion, a known ally to Quan Chi. If he, Kung Lao, and Jade had their own Revenants, than the others had to as well, right? At least, whoever among them had apparently died at the Tournament.

Including Kitana.

"What's on your mind?" Kung Lao spoke, pulling him from his thoughts once more. "You're making that face again."

"I'm just thinking about what we've seen here," Liu Kang answered, "and realizing it's probably not even a fraction of what's going on. There's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers to go around- not yet anyways. And I just..." his voice trailed off for a moment as he tried to piece his thoughts back together.

There was just so much to think about, to question- and they had only been here for a few hours at most.

This world they were in now, this timeline, was a far-cry from the one they had embraced that morning.

It didn't even look the same, let alone feel the same.

"We knew the risks of entering the Tournament, but given the circumstances, knowing that we had to fight for Earthrealm, we didn't have a choice," Liu Kang continued. "Death is always a possibility, but I guess I always saw myself as being the one to make that sacrifice. I figured even if I died, you would still be there to take my place. But now that I know that's not what happened. Our roles were switched, and I failed to make things right."

"You don't know what happened," Kung Lao replied, "- and I wouldn't exactly count your Revenant as being a reliable source."

"Your Revenant seems correct, at least based on what the other you confirmed," he reminded.

"Well yeah, but Shao Kahn snapping my neck is about as simple as it gets."

"Don't- " Liu Kang started, feeling his skin crawl at how easily the man said those words, "- don't say that."

"Believe me, I don't want to say it either," Kung Lao continued, "but it makes more sense for me to say that than it is for you believe that Raiden killed you." There was a pause and then a look that came over him that seemed to express something other than what he had just said. And when he spoke again, there was a sense of hesitation in his voice. "I don't know, alternate me did mention something about Raiden getting me killed too..."

"We'll figure it out when we speak with Lord Raiden," Liu Kang assured. "For now, let's just focus on getting back to the Special Forces base. Do you think your leg will hold up until then?"

Kung Lao offered him a shrug in response. "We'll see."

* * *

They made it back to the Special Forces outpost within the hour- and found a convoy already prepped to escort them back to the main base.

Oddly enough, none of the soldiers seemed to blink an eye at the additional members to their two-man party and simply ushered them into the awaiting vehicles- making a note somewhere along the way that the General needed them back ASAP.

Despite one armored vehicle being enough to hold all four of them, the alternate Kung Lao made the decision to split them between two cars- and none of them objected to the idea.

It was a long ride back to the base.

One that was taken in almost complete silence.

Liu Kang tried to keep his mind at ease, distracting himself by helping Kung Lao slow the blood that was still pouring out of his leg. The wound seemed simple and clean enough, but it must've been deeper than he thought it was.

"Did that guy say General Blade?" Kung Lao questioned, looking as though he was trying to make himself as comfortable as he could in the stiff seating of the military vehicle. He had propped his left leg onto the seat across from him, trying to elevate the wound to control the bleeding. Despite both elevation and pressure though, there was blood still seeping between his fingers. "As in, Lieutenant Blade?"

"It has been twenty-seven years," Liu Kang offered, "and she had an impressive military record before. I'm not surprised she made it up to General."

"Is that why we didn't see her then? She's too busy to deal with the timeline issues that are going on?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out."

* * *

"You two go on ahead," the alternate version of Kung Lao spoke as they climbed out of the vehicles, entering into the cool space of the military garage. "Tell Liu Kang I'll be there shortly, I just need to speak with myself for a few minutes."

It was really odd to hear his own name being spoken of, and it not being in reference to himself.

Again, Liu Kang tried not to think about it as he and Kung Lao made their way across the busy garage and headed towards the war room they had departed from just three hours before. It was odd to think of just how much had changed in such a short amount of time, of just how much he now had to think on, to question. Enough so that he found himself almost hesitating to enter the war room itself.

Thankfully Kung Lao beat him to it and made the initial step inside.

The war room had been crowded before, with himself, Kung Lao, Lord Raiden, Major Briggs, and Lieutenant Blade- as well as two Johnny Cage's, unfortunately. And also add in the present-day children of Briggs and Blade as well.

But now, it was even more crowded.

Now there were two Raiden's.

And soon to be two more Kung Lao's.

"Liu Kang, Kung Lao, you've returned," Raiden, the one from their timeline, _their_ Raiden, spoke, as he departed from the conversation with his alternate doppelganger. And it seemed upon looking at them, the man knew that something was wrong. "I take it the matter at the Wu Shi Temple did not go accordingly."

"The temple was slaughtered," Liu Kang answered, finding it difficult to speak to the God, now knowing what his future self had said. But he knew he had to trust in Raiden; he was the best chance they had to get through this mess. "No survivors. Scorpion and our Revenant selves, as well as Jade's, were there- and someone by the name of Geras, who's working with Kronika. Geras and my Revenant managed to secure the Jinsei energy before they escaped; we weren't able to stop them."

If the Thunder God held any sense of disappointment in the news, he didn't show it.

"Kronika needs the Jinsei for her hourglass, but even it is not strong enough to power it alone. We still have time to stop her," Raiden assured, before he turned back to his own doppelganger. "And now we have the extra manpower to do so."

Raiden had always worn white, the color of when lightning struck at its hottest and strongest temperature.

And his alternate self wore the same, but wore a tunic of blue and gold thrown over- elaborating the simple costume with an elegant touch.

As the alternate version of the Thunder God stepped forward, there was this air of tension and strength around him. Touches of electricity ran along the brim of his hat and occasionally webbed between his fingers, pulsating into the air.

"Yo, Raiden, you upgraded," Kung Lao remarked.

"It truly is odd to see such youth in old companions," this alternate version of Raiden spoke, perhaps with a sense of admiration, before the man seemed to shift his focus. "What of your Revenants? You said that yours escaped with this Geras person?"

"Yes," Liu Kang nodded. "It is odd to fight someone who knows all of your moves and then some."

"And what of yours, Kung Lao? I'd recognize those cuts on your face from anywhere."

Kung Lao touched at his left cheek, now fully bruised and crystallized with dried blood.

"Well, we brought mine home," he answered.

And immediately, there was a sense of surprise on the alternate Raiden's face.

"You managed to get one of the Revenants?" a different voice questioned, before a figure Liu Kang had overlooked walked over to stand with the two Raiden's.

And Liu Kang felt something he couldn't describe as he found himself staring at... _himself_.

Once stark-black hair was now a silver-white and fell to his shoulders. A red headband kept the smoothed strands from falling into his face and kept them tucked against the back of his neck.

A red-and-black tunic was layered over a black shirt and his arms were covered in a set of wooden gauntlets, the kind that Master Bo' Rai Cho had once worn.

His face was aged but he could still see himself in it.

"Where is he?"

Liu Kang tried to answer but found that he couldn't quite get the words out.

"Well technically, I'm talking with him out in the garage," Kung Lao answered instead, looking just as equally surprised- but considering that the man had already gone through this process with himself, he had a better grip on his reactions. Maybe anyways. "But it's not me, it's- well I guess it's the Kung Lao from your timeline." He paused, only to immediately start again. "This is really weird. Liu Kang is standing next to me- and also in front of me."

"I assure you, it's equally weird for us," this alternate Liu Kang replied. "I trust Kung Lao knows what he's doing about the Revenant- but we should see to it that he has space for himself. Seeing all these faces won't be good considering he'll feel like he just abandoned all of us as well. And being away from the hivemind has... unfortunate setbacks. We don't want to risk him hurting others or himself."

"Wait what?" Kung Lao questioned. "What do you mean setbacks?"

The alternate version of himself seemed set on ignoring the question while he looked around the crowded room.

"Cage, is there another room on-base that we could use?"

And despite the man's question being directed towards the movie star, it was Lieutenant Blade's daughter who spoke up instead.

"We got a back-up conference room you can use just down the hall," Cassie answered, pushing away from the line of computers in front of her as she got to her feet. Hands brushed off on her pants before she rubbed them against her face, trying to rub the screen light out of her eyes. "It should be good enough for privacy without giving anyone any kind of running room. I'll check and make sure it's still clear- and then redirect traffic."

Lui Kang watched as the once-still room immediately went back into motion.

Cassie gathered a few of her things before she headed out of the room- taking Jacqui, Major Brigg's daughter, with her.

The two Raiden's went back to discussing matters with one another.

And even his alternate self moved back to the table in the middle of the room, returning to whatever task he had been working on before.

"Kung Lao."

It was Lieutenant Blade who spoke this time, as she walked over to them- setting aside a coffee mug as she did.

"Everyone else might be okay with ignoring it, but you should get someone to look at those cuts- and your leg too," the Lieutenant continued. "I think we kind of busted up the medic room when Kronika pulled us here, but there's a med-kit back here, so we can at least get those cuts cleaned up."

Kung Lao seemed surprised at the offer.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant, they're really not an issue-"

"It wasn't a suggestion."

There was enough bite in the woman's tone to let it be known that he wasn't going to get out of it.

Liu Kang lightly elbowed the man in the ribs. "Look out for yourself first," he remarked.

"Alright, alright."

He watched as the blonde-haired Lieutenant guided, if not dragged Kung Lao to the back half of the room.

Now seeing the opportunity, Liu Kang hesitated before he approached his alternate self, who seemed to be overlooking some kind of paperwork- or map work rather. Once more, he looked himself over, taking in the human features- comparing the burned image of his Revenant's appearance to the one standing before him now. "So you're me if I don't stay as a Revenant?" Liu Kang questioned, watching as his doppelganger looked up at the words. "What do I have to do to get this future instead?"

"We're still working on it," his alternate self spoke. "We need to stop Kronika from erasing time and have her send the past back into the past. Our connection to this timeline isn't as strong or as stable as yours, so there's a good chance we'll be sent back to our timeline without Kronika's assistance. That's the running theory anyways. Raiden still has a connection to our timeline so he could, theoretically, bypass the time stream for us."

"How will sending us back help anything?" he asked.

"Once we tell you everything that happens, you'll know what to avoid," his future self continued. "It's a little more complicated than that, but right now that's not our main focus. We need to work on stopping Kronika from reversing time completely first- otherwise our initial plan will be pointless to undertake. If we've already gotten one Revenant away from her this early on, then we're already one step in the right direction."

The man paused and then absentmindedly added.

"I'm not surprised that it was Kung Lao's Revenant either. Quan Chi's power over him was always the weakest."

"The weakest?" Liu Kang questioned.

"He's a stubborn man, even as a Revenant," his alternate self replied, before he looked to him once more. "I take it ours didn't handle the interaction so well."

"No," he answered, simply at that- and that seemed to be enough for his alternate self to understand. He decided then that it was as good of time as any to push the subject that had been weighing on his mind. "He said that Raiden killed us at the Tournament. Is that true?"

And Liu Kang watched as his alternate doppelganger seemed to flinch at the remark.

The man didn't say anything immediately, but looked around them first- seemingly ensuring that both Raiden's were too distracted with one another to bother with eavesdropping on their conversation.

"That's correct," his future self nodded. "It's a long story- one that we can't risk getting in to right now."

"But why?" Liu Kang pressed regardless.

"That's a question I still ask sometimes," the man replied. "But we can't risk dwelling on the past. I can't, at least. Things are complicated enough as they rest, we don't need to add more tinder in the fire. But just know, our Revenant has every right to be angry- and after spending this long as a Revenant, we might have to accept that there is no chance of redeeming him."

He had hated the sight of his future self, glowing and grayed-skin.

And yet something about accepting the same demon as being too lost to help was just as equally hated.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Liu Kang asked. "You were once him, were you not?"

"Yes, but our experiences are wildly different now," his older self spoke. "There is no telling what he's gone through now."

A strong point was made.

Sighing, Liu Kang tried to distract himself from the thought, and glanced over to where Kung Lao was seated with Lieutenant Blade. Despite him looking uncomfortable, with his face being held in her hands as the Lieutenant kept a folded rag pressed to his sliced cheek, Kung Lao still seemed to be making the most of it. Or at least, he was trying to.

He was putting on a good face for the Lieutenant- who, to her credit, seemed to be doing what she could without causing him any further pain.

"I heard about when you were pulled through the timeline," his alternate-self spoke again. "You were lucky."

Liu Kang looked back to himself at the remark, noting that the man was staring at the same scene with Kung Lao and Lieutenant Blade. There seemed to be this sort of castaway look on his face.

"Kronika pulled you away before you had to witness one of the worse moments of your life."

Liu Kang looked the man over and then looked back to the other scene, putting the two pieces together.

"You're talking about what Shao Kahn did," he replied.

"Yeah," the man nodded. "It's been twenty-seven years and I can still hear the sound; I can still see it all happening clear as day right in front of me. One minute, he was alive, and the next second, he was gone. No words, no goodbyes- nothing. It was instant, that much I took solace in; it was better than how most of us went- myself included. But there was never any closure. He never even knew what happened, but I did- and I couldn't save him."

He felt the words hit harder than they should've.

After all, Kung Lao was here with him, in this same room- far away from Shao Kahn or any other kind of danger.

[Minus his Revenant anyways.]

But to think, he was seconds away from watching his brother die in front of him.

"So we got a problem."

They both barely had a chance to look up at the remark before the alternate version of Kung Lao joined them, easily butting himself into their conversation.

So some things never changed.

"Tell me it doesn't have to do with your Revenant," the alternate Liu Kang replied.

"No, but it does deal with yours," Kung Lao remarked. "Twenty-seven years later, and you've been promoted to Dark Emperor."

His future self looked surprised by the title.

"Dark Emperor?" he repeated.

"Apparently after Quan Chi and Shinnok's death, you took over," Kung Lao continued. "You control the Netherrealm army alongside the Empress."

"The Empress?" they both repeated the title now.

But it was his alternate self who seemed to connect the points first and there was a look of realization that washed over him immediately after.

"Kitana isn't going to like hearing about this one."

"Which means that it's going to be a tough link to break for your Revenants," the alternate Kung Lao spoke. "My Revenant says that the two of your are inseparable, which means we might've missed our only chance to catch this Emperor by himself- but even then, he didn't seem hospitable enough to talk. If we can get the other Revenants alone and bring them in, then we still have a chance- but I don't see us being able to corner you or Kitana into joining, especially not if you two are correlating together."

"We should be able to function fine without them," his future self assured. "How's your Revenant doing? Is he giving you all this information?"

"He's upfront with some questions regarding the other Revenant but he won't talk much more than that- and if I try to push him, he'll just shut me out," Kung Lao answered. "Overall, he's doing about as bad as I thought he would, but it's manageable. You take one away from the Hivemind and they start second-guessing everything they've done, everything they're doing. I think he does want to be here, he wants to be away from the others, but... well, you know how it feels."

"Keep him with you for now," his alternate self replied. "He's vulnerable to anything and he's likely to lash out if he feels threatened."

"You keep mentioning a Hivemind," Liu Kang spoke, interrupting them now. "What does that mean?"

He watched as the two looked to one another, sharing an eerily matching look of questioning, as though they weren't sure how to answer his query.

"You had to be there," the older Kung Lao eventually answered with a shrug, only to be elbowed by his counterpart. "Look, it's kind of hard to explain without experiencing it- otherwise it just kind of sounds ridiculous."

"With Quan Chi, we were controlled by the power he used to resurrect us," future Liu Kang started instead. "Under that power, we were all connected to a certain degree; we were all acutely aware of what each of us were doing, of what we were thinking. Sometimes we didn't even have to speak to know what the other person was going to do."

"Think of it like a pack mentality," Kung Lao added in. "Like a flock of birds, all it takes is for one of them to move before the others follow in line."

"All we can speak on is from our own experience," alternate Liu Kang continued. "A Hivemind is a collective, and at the time, Quan Chi was the one who controlled it. But without him in this timeline, there is no central figure of power."

"Well, there's the Dark Emperor," Kung Lao reminded.

"Maybe, but even he won't have the same hold as Quan Chi or Shinnok," his future-self replied. "It's a difficult thing to explain, but there's an odd sense of comfort when you're in that Hivemind. You don't think, you don't feel, but you know you share the same thoughts and emotions as the rest of the pack; it takes away the burden of free thought. All it would take was for Quan Chi to get mad and then the rest of us would feel the same anger."

"You remove someone from that Hivemind, from that comfort, and you force them to think on their own, to make their own actions- and that's where the hold can start to break," Kung Lao spoke. "It's the best opportunity you have to get a Revenant to pull away. Unfortunately, there's a downside to it too. It can cause impulsive behavior, mental deterioration- and this violent sense of separation anxiety, where the Revenant will fight to get back to the others, to get back to the comfort."

"We speak from experience but what's happening now is not something that we can predict- not completely," the elder Liu Kang finished.

It was a lot of information to take in.

And there was a lot to it that he didn't understand.

But he knew that he didn't like what he had heard.

"This would be easier if there was someone from his own timeline that we could expose him to- someone that would have a positive influence on his behavior," his alternate self continued, before he turned to his equally older counterpart. "I don't know if continued exposure to you will be good for him. You can relate but you're also showing off a future that he doesn't have, and it'll only add to his eventual crash."

The alternate Kung Lao gave a sigh, as though he already knew. "I've looked around but it's hard to figure out who's from what timeline around here- and who even knows what I'm talking about. I'll keep asking around though, see if anyone's willing to speak to him. I guess if I get desperate, I can ask Cage, but I don't foresee that ending well."

The hatted-man made the motion to step back before he looked to him and then around the room.

"Where's the me that was with you?"

"He's with Lieutenant Blade," Liu Kang answered, gesturing to where the two were.

Lieutenant Blade had finished cleaning the blood from his face and seemed to be in the process of putting some kind of medicine on it. Kung Lao was grimacing between every other touch, but was still putting on a show it seemed- managing to get the Lieutenant to laugh a few times.

Liu Kang watched as the alternate Kung Lao glanced over to the two before a thought seemed to come to him.

"Where's the Sonya Blade from this timeline?"


	3. Framed

The atmosphere of the room seemed to change the moment the question was asked.

Cage felt himself flinch at the words and found that he had to force himself to his feet before he moved to face the crowd of people standing about. He should've figured the question would eventually come up; it was hard not to considering that the younger version of the woman was sitting at the back of the room- and that she too had looked up at the question.

The amply named war-room was rarely crowded like this, especially given how tight-fisted Sonya used to be about who was allowed inside. And usually, he wasn't but she had been gracious enough to allow him in a few times- if only for five minutes before she'd kick him back out again.

But it was odd to see the place filled at every corner, even though there was really only about five different people in the room; they were just sort of duplicated around a few times, which was still a really weird concept to comprehend.

Seeing himself from his old Tournament days was like a heavy backhand.

But seeing Sonya and Jax as well, complete opposites of the people they were now, was just... something different.

And then there was Liu Kang and Kung Lao as they used to be, looking how he remembered them when they were alive.

And then... their weird alternate duplicates, who looked nothing like he could've imagined.

It was getting really difficult to keep things straight between each person- and each timeline for that matter.

While he was used to seeing stunt doubles on a daily basis, used to seeing real-life doppelgangers, his own included, it was worth it to remember that they were just from the movies; they were fake. The stunt doubles weren't actually the real actor; they just happened to win a secondhand genetic lottery to look somewhat similar. Make-up and dressing also helped in the long run of it- also camera angles.

_This_ was fucking real though.

These were actually the same people he had witnessed get slaughtered right in front of him decades before.

And here they were, just seconds from disaster, just a day before all that shit went down.

They were still young and happy with how the Tournament had been going- unaware of the internal corruption that was about to turn the tides against them.

"General Blade was involved in the Netherrealm raid this morning," Cage started, figuring he should use her rank since most of the people here didn't know the Sonya Blade from this timeline. "Everything went to Hell pretty quick and she got caught when the lower floors were collapsed on top of her team; she blew the whole place to kingdom come while she was still inside."

It wasn't exactly the most elegant way of putting it, but he thought Sonya would've appreciate the phrasing.

There was a silence that passed around the room that he would still never get used to.

He could feel everyone's eyes on him- and it wasn't a good feeling.

"She took out the Netherrealm fortress?" the question came from the old-man version of Kung Lao. It was still odd to see the man as the same age as himself, especially considering how this timeline had treated the Shaolin. And while it was unfortunate that, even in his older age, Kung Lao still kept the hat around, it couldn't be denied that the man looked pretty good otherwise.

Then again, when the alternative was a full-on Revenant monster, anything would look good in comparison.

"Yeah, well she liked to make an impression," Cage remarked, trying to maybe crack a joke so he could ignore the still persistent knot in his throat. "She was in the lowest floor of the castle when she got trapped; there was no way we could've gotten to her. Most of her unit died immediately and... she didn't have much longer herself."

He was glad neither Cassie or Jacqui were in the room right now- not that he would've allowed them to be if the question still came up.

"Worst hour of my life, having to come back home without her and not have a damn idea of what I'm supposed to do- and having to accept that the mission was a success despite the loss taken."

"Cage-" it was the living future version of Liu Kang who started to speak next.

But he held up his hand to stop the man.

"You could probably imagine our surprise when, we're here trying to put ourselves back together, and Sonya just... walks in," Cage continued. "She just, walks in like she wasn't just trapped under literal tons of rubble before detonating the C4 that was literally on top of her."

The memory was still fresh in his mind even hours later; the shock of it having never worn off.

One minute he's trying to comfort Cassie and Jacqui, trying to be the strong one, trying to put the pieces back together.

And then the next minute, Sonya's there again- pissed as all Hell and just as confused they were.

It was almost more horrifying than it was relieving.

"She was busted all to Hell though," Cage finished. "Compound fracture on her left leg, collapsed lung, crushed ribs, skull fracture, internal bleeding- you name it, she had it. I don't know how the hell she managed to get back to Earthrealm, or how she managed to even walk into the med-bay- how she knew how to find any of us. But she did."

"How was that possible?" old man Kung Lao questioned, looking about the same as everyone else in the room did.

Awestruck but also a little horrified maybe.

"Beats me," Cage shrugged. "I don't have the answers, but I'm not gonna complain. Sonya's hooked up in the med-bay right now, or at least what's left of it. We've been trying to get an airlift out here, or ground work at least, but with the timeline shift we've lost positioning on most of our units. We've trying to track them down, but a lot of them are having to do field work; we're running on full damage control at the moment and everything's already out of hand."

He paused and rubbed at the back of his neck, not surprised to find it still beaded with cold sweat.

"She's stable for now, at we have that."

"It's possible that when Kronika reset time to bring back the Netherrealm fortress, General Blade was caught up in the time reversal as well," this new-age Raiden spoke. "If Kronika only reset the time back by a few seconds, minutes even, it's likely that Sonya was treated the same- which is why she still harbored the same injuries from just before the fortress went down. It's impossible for us to prove it, but it is something worth taking into consideration- if only to ease your mind on the matter."

Cage hadn't thought of the situation in that way, but it sounded plausible.

Anything was better than nothing right now.

It did seem however, given the amount of people from different timelines standing before him, that Kronika's control over the timeline itself wasn't without faults. In which case, there seemed to be a small silver lining amongst the chaos that was ongoing.

"Something is something," Cage agreed, admitting that the thought did bring him some comfort. He hadn't said much on it, but he did have some concerns that maybe the Sonya resting in the med-bay wasn't the same Sonya from this morning, let alone this timeline- that she might've been a different one ripped away from some other timeline.

He didn't know what was plausible anymore.

It seemed like anything and everything could happen at any moment and they were just expected to accept it and move on.

Which was how the past two years alone had been feeling.

Cage looked the new-age Raiden over, noting that he looked identical to the Raiden that he knew, or perhaps _used_ to before the whole corruption thing. And it was weird having what he would consider to be the past staring him in the face, reminding him of how things used to be.

And he couldn't stop himself from the saying the one thing that had been on his mind for the greater part of the last hour.

"It's good to have you around again, Raiden- and sane for that matter."

"Sane?" Both of the two Raiden's questioned.

While it wasn't surprising that Kronika's hatred of Raiden had lead her to erasing the present-day one, but in reversing the timeline, and seemingly fucking it up, she had inadvertently pulled in two more versions of the Thunder God.

And just their luck, she had gotten rid of the corrupted one and had then blessed them with two fully-functioning and good-again Raiden's; one from the innocent past and one from a more refined future.

If there was any take on luck to be had in this situation, he was willing to say it was with that.

"Shinnok tried to take over Earthrealm two years back, and ended up corrupting the Jinsei before he was taken out. And in order to restore balance to Earthrealm, you were forced to cleanse the Jinsei- but in doing so, you ended up absorbing Shinnok's energy," Cage explained. "And then you got your hands on his amulet, probably right around the time you chopped his head off and sent it to the Revenant as a warning."

"That's kind of fucked up- even by Shinnok's standards," the Tournament version of Kung Lao remarked.

"A decapitated head in a box isn't new though, but I am curious who gave him that idea," the younger Sonya added on.

"Yeah, shit went downhill real quick after that," Cage continued. "You got real aggressive and to be frank, none of us trusted you. Sonya kept you around because she couldn't risk you getting out and doing who knows what on your own volition; she did what she had to to keep an eye on you."

To say that the two Raiden's were taken back by his answer seemed to be an understatement.

Then again, if someone had told him the same thing two years ago, he would've called bullshit on it as well.

Him and Raiden used to be real close.

"You were the one who proposed the siege on the Netherrealm fortress this morning," he spoke. "I didn't want to do it, but you had good reasons and Sonya made a strong case in your favor. I wish she hadn't, but technically neither of you were wrong- but if all this mess hadn't happened, if there was no timeline to reverse, this would've been a whole different story. Kronika did us a favor by wiping you from our timeline, at least now we can get a fresh start."

Given how the two Raiden's looked to one another, an odd look of pain shared between them, Cage questioned if he might've been too brute in his wording.

But he wasn't wrong either.

Corrupted Raiden would've just fucked them over more than he already had- especially if he was still present in this given situation.

"Part of me finds that hard to believe, but obviously I am in no place to say," the younger version of Raiden spoke. "If Shinnok managed to corrupt the Jinsei and we had no choice but to absorb the energy, then so be it- but the dangers were evident. There should've been precautions taken, but given the dire situation, it's hard to say how things could've been different."

"What's done is done," the alternate Raiden spoke. "Perhaps it is better that that version is out of the picture if what you have described is true. The issue we must face now is where to go from here. What has already been done? And what is there that we already know?"

"There's the issue with Shao Kahn in Outworld," the Tournament Liu Kang spoke. "Kitana and Jade have stayed behind to track his movements."

"He's got a new entourage with him too," the same version of Kung Lao added. "He's got Skarlet, Erron Black, and Baraka with him."

Great.

First Kronika, and then the Revenant- and now Shao _fucking_ Kahn was back.

Cage hated to admit it, but this was exactly what the corrupted Raiden had been trying to convince them of that morning- of how they couldn't handle a war on two fronts. And he was right- although this wasn't exactly the two wars he had been thinking of.

"Kitana and Jade from our time went to Outworld as well to spearhead the issues," the alternate Liu Kang started. "I shouldn't be surprised that Kronika brought Shao Kahn back as well, but it is still unnerving. Kitana will handle him well enough though, so I don't feel like there's a need for us to be concerned with him just yet. Still, we should look into heading to Outworld ourselves; it seems like there's a greater threat to be had there. Kronika has already convinced the Revenants here to join her, but she's looking for a larger army in Outworld. Shao Kahn will try to re-rally his old alliances; we'll need to get to them before he does."

It was odd to hear about Kitana and Jade and not assume it was about them as Revenants.

"You head out and I'll catch up with you later," the alternate Kung Lao remarked. "I need to take care of my Revenant here first. Plus, you know how Kitana can be- there's a good chance she might kill her younger self if someone doesn't intervene first."

"It is possible," the same Liu Kang nodded. "Then myself and... myself will head to Outworld. Will you know how to find us?"

"I always know how to find your dumb ass," the same Kung Lao assured, as he patted the man on the shoulder- only to laugh when Liu Kang brushed him off. "Take my younger self with you, he needs the fresh Outworld air."

It was equally weird to see the two Shaolins act as they were.

Recent memories only pained them as Revenants- cold-blooded and stoic.

But here they were, both young and old, still living a life that had long since been snuffed out in this timeline.

"Cage, do you know if any of the Revenants are in Outworld?" the older Liu Kang questioned. "It would be best for us to keep an eye out for them regardless, but if we know who we're going up against beforehand, it gives us an advantage."

The question was a little difficult to answer.

"Can't say for sure," Cage started. "We used to be able to track them pretty tight when they were in the Netherrealm, but our satellites are kind of fucked right now. If Kronika's given them the power to escape the Netherrealm's hold, and considering that you've got a Revenant here on base, they could be anywhere. I can check our recent scans and see if there's been a hit anywhere- but we don't know if the Time Lord's keeping the Revenants with her or spreading them around like her little minions."

"We can only assume that when my Revenant left with Geras, he went back to Kronika," the younger Liu Kang spoke.

"Did your Revenant mention anything about their potential plans?" the older Liu Kang questioned, directing it towards his alternate counterpart.

"No, he wouldn't give up that information," Kung Lao answered. "Best guess is they're staying with Kronika until she deals out the orders. So, if we're lucky, maybe she sent some of them to Outworld to help out Shao Kahn."

"I don't know if I'd call it luck, but it would be wise for us to keep an eye out for them anyways," the older Liu Kang replied. "Your Revenant was a surprise take, but if we could get even one more, we'd be in a better spot. I understand that my own Revenant might be impossible to persuade, but if we rid the body then there's not much left that the head can do."

The guy still liked his weird... prophetic shit or whatever it was called.

Communication was damn near impossible with the Revenant, at least from any experience he had had with them- which was still pretty recent. Persuading them would be nigh impossible, let alone even attempting to capture and keep in custody- not without losing a few more men in the process, or body limbs at that.

"Maybe, as big of a pain as the Emperor is... you better hope that the Empress isn't walking around either," Cage warned, watching as the trio looked over at the words. "Most days we're more concerned about her than we are about the Emperor; believe it or not, even dead, he still has some sense of moral- not by much though. But the Empress isn't afraid to do what she wants, when she wants. I've seen her cut the heads off of retreating soldiers before; she doesn't let anyone escape a battle against her."

Cassie herself was lined up to be the next victim to the Dark Empress.

And ironically, if it hadn't been for the Emperor collapsing the lower floor and distracting the Empress, he would've had a whole lot more to deal with than just Sonya being gone.

"If this Empress is anything like how Kitana was as a Revenant, and now worse, I assure you- it's no surprise," the alternate Kung Lao spoke. "We'll keep an eye out for them- and hope that this Empress and Kitana don't cross paths before we do."

"I can arrange for Outworld transport," Cage started, "but be warned, we're not exactly on good terms-"

He was cut off by the sound of someone screaming outside, and before he could even focus on who the source of it could be, he heard a sound similar to paper ripping echo throughout his head. His left cheek suddenly throbbed with pain, if only for a brief second, but enough so that he brought his hand to it- surprised by the absurdity of it.

When he pulled his hand away, there wasn't any reason for the pain- no blood or anything.

Cage touched at his face once more, just for the reassurance, and felt his fingers graze over what felt like scar tissue.

Scar tissue that hadn't been there seconds before.

"_Dad!_"

The sharp call from outside was enough to make him forget about the lingering pain or the sudden appearance of scars on his face. Cage left the conversations behind him, barely hearing the scattering of feet from the others as he took off out of the room- damn near breaking through the door when it almost didn't open in time.

And the moment he stepped out into the hallway outside, he knew exactly what the source of the problem was.

Because it was glowing like a fucking Christmas tree.

The Revenants had this neat trick where the corrupted energy that was keeping them alive glowed and fluctuated under their skin. It was usually what made them easy to spot in the dark fumes of the Netherrealm, which in turn made them easy to track, ironically enough. And he had seen plenty of heat-scanned images showing them clear as day through the constant smoke fogs; red and white outlines amongst a black background.

But the Revenant Kung Lao was pushing that image.

His energy was almost flaring out through the open carvings on his arms.

The concentration of that same energy showcased the extensive network of it in vein-like shapes underneath his skin, turning his entire body into a roadmap of possessed corruption.

Even his eyes were completely blown out with the now white energy, giving off this eerie, almost ethereal look now.

Cage could feel the energy radiating off of the Revenant, like a cold heat that felt like a thousand fingers were scratching and crawling across his skin- gripping and tugging him into different directions.

This was something new.

Something he hadn't witnessed before.

Twenty-seven years living with unstable energy was really starting to tear the Revenant apart.

"What is _wrong_ with that _thing_?!"

The question snapped him from his trance.

Cage turned his attention to the huddled group of people standing just a few feet away from the Revenant, who thankfully wasn't making any sort of advance towards them- not yet at least.

Jacqui was at the front of the group, closest to the Revenant. She had one of her gauntlets somewhat trained on the man, although her arm kept bobbing up and down as though she didn't want to _actually_ aim at him; perhaps in fear that he would respond appropriately to the perceived threat.

Behind her was Cassie, who was a little more firm with aiming her gun- choosing to prop her arm over Jacqui's shoulder to keep it pointed forward.

And behind Cassie, was the past version of himself.

The younger Cage was holding a hand to his now obviously bleeding face; his sunglasses sitting askew on his face.

And almost immediately, Cage knew what had to have happened.

And he felt a sense of frustration mixed with rage overcome him for a moment.

Of course his dumbass younger self had to be behind this- despite him telling the man to sit still and stay out of the way. Although Cage supposed he did have some fault to carry here. He had gotten so wrapped up in the new arrivals and trying to get everyone situated and get things figured out, that he had completely forgotten to keep an eye on the asshole.

Not to mention, the guy was him too.

So he should've known something like this would happen.

"I got this," the alternate version of Kung Lao spoke, as he brushed past him. The man spared no hesitation in just upright approaching the clearly pissed off and unstable Revenant. "You handle your people, I'll get him back under control."

Cage doubted that- but considering that the future version of Kung Lao had managed to get the Revenant here in the first place, then maybe.

It gave him the chance to get things under control himself.

Ensuring that the other Kung Lao had re-directed the Revenant's attention, Cage walked over to the huddled group. He grabbed his younger self by the scuff of his jacket and yanked him back- almost taking the man off his feet with the motion. He ignored whatever the guy had to say for himself and instead grabbed Cassie by the shoulder next, gently shaking her to break the focus she had going on.

And Cage waited until Cassie had pulled her gun back before he reached over and did the same with Jacqui, who seemed relieved to drop her gauntlet indefinitely.

"We got this under control," Cage started, although he still wasn't certain about that statement just yet. "You two get out of here- just in case."

He watched as Cassie slowly holstered her gun before she turned to say something to him- only to stop just before she started.

"What happened to your face?" Cassie questioned, before she looked towards his younger half and then back to him. And it was like watching the light bulb go off in her head. "Oh-"

"Are you telling me that whatever happens to your younger self... gets updated to the older model?" Jacqui asked.

"Older model? Really?" Cage objected. "Look, this is new to everyone, we'll figure it out as we go along- but for now, I need you two to let us handle this. And I need to talk to _this_ guy to figure out what's going on. But I appreciate the sacrifice in trying to keep me alive."

"Well, you know, my existence kind of depends on it," Cassie reminded, looking between the two of them once more. "I'll uh... I'll go check on mom and see how she's holding up- and then check on, other mom, I guess."

"Yeah, I need to check on other dad too," Jacqui nodded, "- and see if I can't get real dad to answer the phone."

"It's only going to get more confusing from here," Cage remarked.

He watched as the two of them headed back towards the war room- and he waited until they were both back inside, doors closed, before he turned back to his younger self.

"What were you thinking?!" he pressed, keeping a firm grip on the man's jacket. "You can't just run around this place like it's some kind of movie set!"

"Look at that guy!" the younger Cage replied, pointing back towards the Revenant- which he sure as hell wasn't going to look at. He could still feel that cold heat on the back of his neck. "Seriously, what kind of make-up is that? What's with the special effects- how is he glowing like that? And those fucking nails- what are they? Acrylic?!"

It was like watching his tiny little brain have an ongoing meltdown.

Cage watched as his younger self touched at his bleeding face, only to hiss in response to the contact- as though surprised that they were actually real wounds. He looked just like the younger Kung Lao did when they returned from the Wu-Shi Temple, which gave him enough context to know what had happened. Kung Lao's Revenant really liked to slap the shit out of people apparently.

"And what's with the fucking light show?!"

Okay, so this asshole was only going to make this whole situation worse.

Yelling and pointing at a Revenant was like doing the same to a wild animal- eventually someone was going to get bitten.

"Come on- you and I are going somewhere else," Cage started, as he began to drag the younger movie star away.

"Are you kidding me? Look at us, look at what that asshole did- it fucking scarred, and on our face of all places," the younger him continued. "I'm not gonna let him get away with that-"

"The _hell_ you are," he interrupted, grabbing the man by one of his arms now as he continued to drag him further down the hallway.

And he kept walking, moving past the war room and other empty rooms, and then more so; he was just trying to find a quiet spot away from the crowd, but also to just get his thoughts together as he moved. They already had enough shit to deal with on their hands, they didn't need someone from inside of the group to make problems for them- but of course, it _had_ to be him.

It was always him.

His younger self ranted and raged the entire time but Cage had tuned him out already- and was surprised at how easy it was to do.

He was beginning to understand why Sonya used to be mad at him so often.

She used to complain that he always talked but never listened.

And now he was beginning to see the truth in that.

When he was pretty confident that they were both well out of harm's way, as well as out of the way of anyone who might overhear their conversation, he let the man go. And he watched as his younger self huffed and rotated the shoulder of the arm he had been gripping the entire time.

"Since when did I turn into such a pussy?" the younger him spat, never-minding that he had to prop his sunglasses on the top of his head now. "We could've taken that _thing_, whatever it was."

And for once, he was glad that most of their ground units were off-base at the moment.

It might've left their defenses vulnerable, but at least he knew someone wasn't going to walk in on this.

"He's not a _thing_, he's a Revenant," Cage corrected, although he was certain it was just going to fly over his younger self's head. "What happened anyways? Why were you two out there? He was isolated for a reason- one of which was so assholes like you wouldn't bother him."

"Well no one thought to pass that information out to me," his younger self retorted. "I was just walking around to stretch my legs- and to get away from your insistent nagging. It wasn't like there was a guard standing outside of the room or anything, so I just walked in to have some peace and quiet. I thought he was some kind of, you know, one of those animatronics or something."

Cassie must've forgotten to re-engage the door lock after she opened the room.

It would've required a keycard to open, which would've been an obstacle for their alternate dimensional guests, but the security could've prevented something like this from happening.

"Okay, first off, you hate peace and quiet," Cage reminded. "And secondly, _why_ would a military base have an animatronic?"

"I don't know- firing squads and bomb tests, this is the fucking future after all," his younger self shrugged. "I should've guessed though since I haven't seen a jetpack or anything cool since I've been here. Besides, all I did was touch him to see if he was real."

"You _touched_ him?"

"He wasn't moving-"

Cage closed his eyes and moved his hands to his temples for a moment, unsure exactly of how to process everything that was going on. Also if he didn't keep his hands busy, he was probably going to wrap them around his own neck. Taking a deep breath, he tried not to lose his cool any further- knowing well it was just going to make the argument even worse. "Okay so, I take it that's when you got slapped?"

"I didn't get _slapped_, the motherfucker moved so fast I didn't even see what happened," his younger self corrected. "Next thing I know, he's lit up like a fucking Christmas tree and those cute officers were running to my rescue."

"One of those officers if your _daughter_," Cage reminded, "- and the other one is practically your second daughter."

"Whatever."

He really wanted to slap the shit out of himself now.

The guy wasn't even recognizing the kind of danger he put himself into- let alone also dragged Cassie and Jacqui into.

And they had had more than enough to deal with concerning this day so far.

"What even is a Revenant?" his younger self questioned, pacing now as he touched at his face once more. "And why does it have the same hat as that weird monk guy?"

"His name is Kung Lao, and he has that hat because that _is_ him," Cage answered. "Look, there's a lot of shit that you don't know about from the Tournament, alright? You witness a lot of people die right in front of you- and you try and spend a lot of time convincing yourself that you don't care because it's not like you knew any of them beyond a professional level. And guess what, asshole? That backfires on you."

He might've snapped the last sentence because his younger self went quiet and looked away from him.

There were a few seconds where it seemed like the guy was trying to work something out in his head, before he looked back to him. And he had this odd expression, like he had pieced together some of what had been said but still couldn't figure the rest of it out.

"Alright, well, give me the spoilers then- who dies?"

That was a question he didn't want to deal with.

But he had been the one to bring it up; it wouldn't be fair to leave it as is.

"Everyone except you, Sonya, and Raiden."

Cage watched as his younger version seemed to do a mental count in his head; the man even flicked some of his fingers, as though trying to keep track with whatever math he was trying to do.

"Well at least we still got the girl in the end," the man shrugged. "Just like that movie we did- what was it called? Well whatever, it wasn't worth the paycheck, but at least our co-star was hot. It follows the classic line-up. Everyone dies, girl and guy live in the end, and they get together because all that weird shit brought them closer. I mean, it's not ideal, but if that's how we get it in with the hot blonde then I can't complain.

He really couldn't believe what he was hearing right now.

It's like everything went through one ear and out the other.

"Which is good, you know- don't think I didn't see that Kung Lao guy chatting it up with our girl. I never considered him to be competition but now I'm thinking I was wrong."

Sonya had a mean-strike a mile wide and decades long, but that didn't stop her from caring about others.

Seeing her younger version jump to help Kung Lao was just a reminder of that.

It reminded him of how nervous she was when Cassie had just learned to walk.

It reminded him of all the times she would drive out in a heartbeat to go talk with Jax, to help Jacqui that one time her car broke down at two in the morning. Hell, Sonya had stayed with Vera for a week straight after the car accident that almost killed her.

She could make Shinnok look reasonable sometimes, but that didn't deter the person who came out from underneath all the anger.

"Sure, you get the girl," Cage started, "and it's great and all, until you realize that one of the reasons she married you was because of the Survivor's Guilt and her growing PTSD. And eventually, she comes to realize that she's not sure if she ever actually loved you- and maybe she just wanted to be around someone who understood what she had gone through. And then you think, maybe you were the same. She changed you- and for the good of it. Everything went great afterwards. Your career took off, you got married, you had a beautiful daughter- you had everything. And then the realization hits that you spent twenty years on a relationship that had nowhere to go from the beginning. And then when it ends-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean when it ends?" his younger self interrupted.

"We divorced seven years ago."

And to say that the man looked... surprised, caught off-guard, enraged even, was a bit of an understatement.

"You're telling me we get with that hot blonde- and then fuck it up?!"

Now they were opening a whole different can of worms here.

"Are you surprised?" Cage bit in return. "Look, this isn't important. The fact remains that you need to get a hold of yourself and stop treating everything like it's a joke. That might be the only Revenant that you see today, but you need to understand that there's a lot more where he came from- and all of them are dead because you couldn't pull your weight. They died at the Tournament and then you fucked up every other chance there was to save them!"

It was a partial truth and a partial lie all in one.

There was nothing he could've done at the Tournament, not once the ball started rolling. The moment they were all locked inside of that room with the possessed Edenian Queen, it was all over for them.

But there was always that thought, always that hypothetical scenario where maybe, just _maybe_ one little butterfly effect could've changed everything.

Maybe he couldn't have done much at the Tournament, but he sure as hell could've done more two years ago against the Shirai Ryu. But he had let them all down, even got himself all wrapped up to be the damsel in distress- which had only made the situation worse.

"This might be our _one_ opportunity to do something right," he continued, "- and I can't have you fucking it up for me."

If his words had made any impact on his younger self, there was no hint of it.

"Oh, so you're using me to start yourself over on a new leaf?" his younger version spit. "I wonder who that sounds like."

Cage stood up and had to catch himself from wanting to slap the shit out of himself again.

"Look, I have business I have to do. So let's just get you cleaned up so I can get a portal to Outworld running," he spoke instead, pushing the words through clenched teeth it felt like. "And then, when things are calmed down, maybe we can have this talk again."


	4. Beds

Sonya woke up to a fresh pain throbbing in her head and radiating in her back.

A sense of numbness in her left arm and leg.

The first couple of conscious breaths were hard to take, making it feel like she still had that crushing weight on her chest. And even when breathing got easier, there was this burning sensation that lingered behind- reminding her of the amount of dust she must've inhaled when the ceiling came down.

Just thinking about that made her body hurt all over again.

But despite all of that, and what had happened before, she did wake up again.

Which was something she wasn't sure she'd do when she blacked out before.

It took way too long for her to get conscious feeling back into her body, back into her limbs- and even longer then to feel like she had the strength to do something about it. Pushing herself up as best she could, Sonya looked around at her surroundings, just barely remembering that she had managed to make it to the medbay to begin with.

She still didn't know how.

Sonya couldn't remember much other than the ceiling coming down on top of her and then... it was like she just woke up here on the base. There were a few scattered memories that seemingly tried to fill in the holes but there wasn't much for her to grasp on to. Not for now anyways. Maybe if she got up and got her blood pumping, she'd get the memories back.

The medbay was empty- and partly destroyed as well.

When she tried to push herself up further, she felt the tug of wires and tubes in her arms- and didn't really think twice about pulling them out. It meant breaking the cardinal rule of the medbay, but since it didn't seem like there were any doctors or medical personnel to stop her. The machines around her beeped and flatlined at the loss of tracking, but she just switched them off.

Just doing that much seemed to wear her out.

But she couldn't stop here- not while things seemed to be going to hell around her.

Sonya felt her ribs refuse to bend as she tried to move from a sitting position and she hissed at the sharp tug that seemed to pull her entire torso in the opposite direction of her movement. God knows what exactly was broken, asides from everything. Instead, she braced her right arm against the bed and pushed, forcing herself to somewhat roll off of the bed- in sheer hope that she would catch herself on her feet.

Which she did, but only just barely.

Her left leg was incredibly weak underneath her weight and just barely seemed able to support her.

It was still functional though, which was all she needed.

Brushing a hand across her brow, Sonya let the sharp feeling of vertigo settle while she tried to figure out which parts of her body she could still move. She was standing and felt mostly stable, but it felt like a swift breeze could probably knock her off balance at this point. It had been a long time since she had last felt this utterly obliterated and weak. She found herself breathing harder now and each heavy breath only seemed to make her hurt.

But she had to keep moving.

If she was awake, if she was fully conscious, then she could work- and she needed to figure out what the fuck was going on.

Slowly, she made her way around the medical bunk, ignoring the blood-coated bed sheets, and carefully picking up her jacket that had been hanging on the baseboard- something she didn't even realize was missing until now. It was a struggle to get her arms through the sleeves, let alone pull it up over her shoulders, but she got it done.

She started towards the exit, still testing out the limited mobility with her left leg.

Her thigh was wrapped tight in medical bandages, and she recognized the technique used as being needed for an impalement injury- but it seemed like whatever had gone through her leg had been taken out.

Or maybe, whatever came out of her leg had been pushed back in.

The realization that she shouldn't be walking crossed her mind, but at the same time, she shouldn't be conscious either- let alone alive.

And since two of the three was already occurring, she decided to ignore the third.

It wasn't until Sonya found herself running into a few scattered obstacles, mostly loose rolling trays and cabinets, did she realize that on top of everything else, she was missing the vision in her right eye- throwing off her depth perception.

It wasn't new to her though.

It had been a blindness that was a long time coming, ever since Sindel caved in her right eye socket all those years before.

Sonya made it to the medbay door before she noticed the tablet that was sitting out on a nearby table and noticed the red warning screen flashing across it. She reached out and picked it up, recognizing it as being one of hers- although she certainly hadn't left it here. Maybe Cassie had brought it in earlier; God knows the girl loved to borrow all of her tech pieces.

It took a few moments for her remaining eye to focus and not feel stabbing pain in response to the flashing light.

The screen flashed out a warning that someone was operating one of the O.W.I.A's dimensional machines and was attempting to open an unauthorized portal- which was something she instinctively denied, shutting the machine down from the tablet's side.

Alright, so now she knew that something was up.

Stepping out of the medbay, Sonya took note of the odd silence that blanketed the base, which was unheard of given how close the garages were, and how often maintenance was being run. Her head felt like it was swimming as she tried to remember which direction the war room was in; it felt like she was riding on the verge of puking her guts out at any moment.

Every inch of her was throbbing now, angry at being forced to move and support her own weight; it felt like her body was begging her to go lie back down.

But it was screaming that she pushed aside and ignored as she picked a direction and started walking again.

Sonya vividly remembered the ceiling coming down on top of her.

She remembered the crushing weight that piled itself on her.

She remembered the shattered ribs, the rebar that had punctured through her back, severing her spine- which had at least given her mercy in being unable to feel whatever had happened to her legs.

She could barely move, but she could still move just enough to detonate the C4.

Everything past that was just... black.

By that point, she was dead for sure.

And then she just found herself here.

Alive again, but brutally fucked up.

It felt like part of her was still there, still living in that moment just before the C4 went off.

While the other half was here, trying to make sense of the things around her- and getting nowhere with them.

Sonya made it a few feet before she heard the tablet in her hand beep again. It flashed up the same warning message from before, but this time it labeled the requested portal as going to Outworld.

Once more, she denied it.

What business did any of them have in Outworld? Especially now of all times?

The last thing they needed was to be dealing with Outworld.

Sonya paused as she heard the sound of voices speaking in the distance, although the muffled sound of them had her questioning whether they were really that far away, or if her eardrums were still ruptured from the explosion.

Continuing down the corridor, she watched as it eventually opened up to one of the open-floor garages- which meant that the medbay she had been in was the emergency evacuation one. They had a few people get critically injured last year when one of the heavy vehicle lifts malfunctioned and dropped a newly armored convoy truck onto the maintenance crew.

There had been no causalities, thankfully, but it was enough of a wake-up call to get the medbay permit up and going.

Considering that medical room was used for quick and fast evacs, she wasn't surprised that that was where she had been put up.

The first thing she noticed as she walked into the garage was the group of people who were standing around- none of whom were any of her soldiers.

"I don't get it, why is the system shutting down like this?"

Sonya recognized the voice well enough, although her limited eyesight could still pick the figure out in any crowd.

"This shouldn't be an issue," Cage continued, seemingly hammering away at the machine's control panel.

"You said that Uncle Jax programmed this machine, right?" Cassie spoke next, standing just outside of the machine's protective railing. "I mean, he's here now- you think he'd know how to do it?"

"Maybe," Cage replied, as he stepped away. "I don't think the machine is doing it though, it's more like someone keeps turning the damn thing off."

"You need the General's permission to run that machine," Sonya called out to the two, although she watched as the entire group looked back at her voice, "- and last I checked, I didn't give anyone permission to run shit."

There were too many faces in the crowd for her to focus on.

So she just kept her attention on one face to keep from straining what little vision she retained.

Sonya watched as Cassie turned at her voice and watched as the girl spit her drink out before she dropped the cup she had in one hand.

"_MOM_!"

"Sonya-" Cage started.

The open garage felt like it gave off a heavy echo to the loud calling and she felt her head ring in response.

"What are you _doing_?" Cassie pressed, as the girl started towards her, pushing some people in the crowd out of her way.

"I should be asking you that," Sonya replied instead. "Using Grade 5 machinery without standard permission is grounds for discharge- and considering that that machine's been labeled as out of commission, that's another offense. And what kind of business do _you_ have with Outworld?"

"Mom, it's a long fucking story- one that I will tell you about when we get you back to the medbay," Cassie answered, gently taking her by the arm- or at least, trying to.

The touch of someone else's hand against her was enough to make her skin feel like it was burning, causing her to hiss at the touch- and causing Cassie to yank her own hand away in response.

She must've busted the hell out of her arm too.

"Last I checked, I'm not dead, and you're not the one in charge," Sonya reminded, as she tried to shake the numbing sensation out of her fingers now. "So why don't you tell me what's going right now- before I have to start making threats."

"Wow, a literal death experience and you're _still_ like this."

"Cassie, I have very fresh memories of myself dying this morning, and I'm very aware of every inch of bone that might still be broken inside of me," Sonya started. "As far as I'm concerned, the universe is beginning to hate me as much as I hate it- and at this point, there's nothing more I'd want to do than just move on from whatever happened in the fortress. So just catch me up to speed here, what have I missed out on?"

For a moment, Cassie seemed persuaded by her speech.

She couldn't imagine the emotional turmoil her daughter was going through at this moment either. They had shared one last emotional goodbye just before she had to give the girl a countdown to get out of the fortress- forcing Cassie to allow her to detonate the C4 that they both knew would kill her.

And now they were here, having to just sort of... pretend none of that had happened.

But she watched as Cassie tightened her lips and straightened up.

"I'm not telling you shit."

Classic move.

"Alright," Sonya replied, giving the girl a hint of relief, before she stepped around her, "I'll find out for myself."

Before she could even get a few steps past Cassie, she was blocked off by Cage, who had quickly come in to join the conversation.

"Sonya, this really isn't the best time to be pushing yourself," he started. "There's a lot of things going on- most of which we're still trying to make sense of."

"Then just tell me what the fuck it is," she pressed. "I got blown up in an explosion this morning, I think I can handle a little more bad news."

"Okay, okay, just please stop mentioning how you got blown up," Cassie gave in, as she moved back to stand in front of her- and Sonya admittedly did feel a little guilty for bringing the topic up, _again_. "Okay so, basically, some real shit is happening- more than just what happened this morning. The clipnotes here is that there's this Titan called Kronika, who controls time, and she's planning on reversing the timeline. And so far, she's basically recruited all of the Netherrealm to work with her- including the Revenants."

"Didn't most of them get nuked?" Sonya questioned.

"Not with Kronika reversing the timeline and undoing the damage done to the Netherrealm fortress," Cassie corrected.

Sonya stared at her daughter for a moment, mostly trying to figure out if the pain in her head was from the skull fracture, or from her struggling to make sense of the situation. "Okay," she started. "So what happened to me then?"

"We don't have a concrete answer just yet," Cassie continued, "but the running theory is that when Kronika reversed the damages done to the fortress, you somehow got caught in the same time reversal."

"Raiden theorized that Kronika brought you back from before the C4 went off, not before the ceiling came down," Cage picked up. "Which is why you were in such a mess when you... somehow got here. And considering your femur isn't sticking out of your leg anymore, I'm guessing that the time reversal thing is still effecting you to some degree. Maybe it's reversing your injuries."

Okay, so now she was stuck in some kind of time tornado.

That was a first- and for once, she might've had something that actually surprised her.

"Where is Raiden?" Sonya questioned.

"Oh, so... Kronika sort of smited Raiden," Cassie answered, "- and this is where things get really weird."

"Cassie, I'm already unhappy with this situation."

Cassie held her hands up as though to say that shit really was about to get weird- and Sonya wanted to kick herself for realizing that not only did Cassie have a specific gesture to convey that, she actually recognized and understood what it meant.

"Apparently Kronika is already resetting our timeline, but she needs energy to pull it off and she needs people to protect her while she's doing it. So, in order to boost her numbers, she sort of... brought the past into the future," Cassie started, "and then, in doing that, she also managed to snag an alternate timeline as well. So, right now, we have two Raidens that are not the Raiden that we had this morning- which works out because neither of them are corrupted by Shinnok's energy. One's from the past and one's from an alternate timeline where he never touched the amulet, so you know, we're sort of min-maxing here."

Sonya moved her hands to cradle her head for a moment, now trying to focus more on breathing rather than puking.

"Mom, you should really lay back down."

"How is it that just learning that has somehow jumped to the top of the list of the worst things that have happened to me so far," Sonya remarked, as she dropped her hands back to her sides. "Show me these two Raidens."

She could see the hesitation on Cassie's face as she seemed to try and put a sentence together, only to fail the first couple of times- and as usual, it seemed like Cage was struggling with the same thing.

"Okay, so it's a little more complicated than just two Raidens-" Cassie started once more.

"I'll figure it out," Sonya interrupted, before she moved to step around the two of them now- waving them both off when they tried to stop her.

She made her way towards the awaiting group- and true to Cassie's word, there really did seem to be two Raidens; she'd recognized the hat anywhere, not to mention the clothing style. Before she could do much about them, a figure from the group stepped forward and approached her.

Blonde-hair strapped back into a ponytail.

Mid-riff shirt underneath a cropped jacket- not exactly fitting given the environment.

Just how many blondes did they have working on this base?

The woman seemed to give her a good look over, which only made the encounter awkward from the start. "Color me surprised, didn't really think they were telling the truth about the whole General thing. Seems pretty fitting- if this wasn't my first impression of it."

"And just who the Hell are you?" Sonya pressed.

And somehow her question seemed to throw the other woman off, as she looked back at her with an equally confused look.

"Lieutenant Sonya Blade."

It took a few moments for the words to sink in- and when they did, she found herself paying a little more attention to the woman in front of her. Christ, maybe it was her shitty vision, but... the woman in front of her resembled very little of what she thought herself to look like.

Sure, she was younger, but something else seemed off about her.

More than just her attire.

"Okay, so remember when I mentioned the whole thing where Kronika brought the past into the future?" Cassie butted in, clearly sensing either the confusion or the tension between them. "So, this is... apparently you from the Tournament, which by the way, I have some questions about the cut-off shirt."

"Believe me, this is tame to what I was wearing earlier," the younger version of herself spoke, before she turned her attention back. "I can't say that I ever would have imagined this kind of future for myself- forgoing the other things."

Sonya picked up on the subtle head tilt her younger self made towards Cassie, and figured it probably was a bit of a shock. Hell knows if someone had told her twenty-seven years ago she'd be the Special Forces General and have a daughter, she'd probably shoot them.

"You get used to her," Sonya remarked with a shrug.

"_Hey_-" Cassie interjected.

"I can catch you up to speed about life things later," Sonya continued, waving her hand once more. "Right now, I need to figure out what's going on and get back on top of things around here."

"I believe that's something we can help you with."

Sonya looked up to watch as both Raiden's approached her now, and had to take a moment to get over the absurdity of the image to begin with. For two years, she had been dealing with their Raiden, who had clearly harbored Shinnok's amulet a little too much- and while she wouldn't say that she had gotten used to him, there was a bit of whiplash at being reminded of what Raiden used to look like. What he should've looked like still.

But if Cassie was correct in what she had said about Kronika snapping their Raiden out of existence, then maybe it was for the better.

"There's time to be shocked later," Sonya started, "just tell me what's going on now."

"Kronika's amassing an army to protect herself while she gathers energy for her hourglass," one of the Raidens spoke, although she wasn't sure which one he classified as. "Her hourglass requires a lot of power and she's already stolen the energy from the Jinsei, but it's not enough. We've brought half of our forces to Earthrealm to keep track of her and see where she's going to hit next- which will be sometime soon. Our remaining forces are in Outworld, keeping track of Shao Kahn-"

"Shao Kahn?" Sonya interrupted, hoping she had misheard the man.

"Yes, unfortunately Kronika has brought the Shao Kahn from the past into this timeline and is using him to re-gather his alliances for her own use," the other Raiden spoke now- and Sonya realized that she recognized his costume, which meant he had to be Raiden from the past. "There was a blow up at the Outworld Koliseum when we arrived- Shao Kahn and Kotal Kahn have waged war against one another. Kitana and Jade stayed in Outworld to assist Kotal Kahn in tracking Shao Kahn. We were just about to head to Outworld ourselves to assist in the matter."

"No."

Her single objection seemed to catch the younger Raiden by surprise.

"Sonya, this isn't the time-" Cage started, only to stop when she raised a hand for him to do so.

"Do as you wish, Raiden, but Earthrealm will not assist in any matter dealing with Kotal Kahn, nor will I allow any of my forces to do so," Sonya spoke.

"It's either Shao Kahn or Kotal Kahn, and we both know which one has to go," Cage continued.

"Yeah- and it's both of them," she snapped, before she put her focus back on to Raiden. "Kotal Kahn broke the Reiko Accords, falsely imprisoned my daughter and her team, threatened them with ritualistic decapitation, and then decided to invade Earthrealm when Shinnok was already in the process of corrupting it. He cannot be trusted. The moment you turn your back on him, he will take the advantage. I may not have a full grasp on what the fuck is going on here, but I can assure you that Kotal Kahn is not helping you for the good of mankind; he's just looking for his next big break."

"It's not the time-"

Sonya held up her hand once more before she turned back towards Cage. "After everything that happened two years ago, you were just going to let them walk in and accept Kotal Kahn at his word? He tried to kill Cassie and Jacqui, you _idiot_\- not to mention Takeda and Kung Jin as well. And you didn't think to say a damn thing about it? I don't care if we have bigger problems to deal with, we'll have even bigger ones if we give that asshole even an inch of power."

"We turned out fine," Cassie started.

"Yeah, because Kuai Liang was there to save your asses," Sonya reminded.

The silence that followed after sounded like one of shattered plans.

And maybe she had gone a little too heavy-handed into the argument, but she was damned if she was going to let Kotal Kahn get his way again. She was used to burning bridges at this point- and as far as she was concerned, they weren't in a position where they needed to lower themselves to gain allies. Then again, she had missed out on a majority of the events so far so she wasn't exactly up to date on how screwed they were.

But even then, she'd be damned if they'd fall into the same trap as before.

"I assure you, General Blade, Outworld is in good hands."

The loosely-made reassurance was accompanied by yet another person walking up to her- and this one she tried to focus on the face of to identify them herself. And the sense of familiarity was there; her mind kept pointing to the same name over and over again, but she kept pushing back on it.

"... Liu Kang?" Sonya questioned.

"That would be correct," he nodded. "I'm sure you've already been briefed on Kronika pulling a few of us from an alternative timeline."

She kept looking him over, unsure of how to process how he looked as a non-Revenant.

This was the Liu Kang she should be knowing now- not the one they were having to deal with.

"So, this is you without the Dark Emperor title," she remarked.

"Yes, we've already been made aware of our Revenant in this timeline," Liu Kang replied. "It's... disheartening on some levels. We've lived as them for a few short years in our own timeline, but to be here now and know that our alternative counterparts weren't so lucky is a tough ordeal to accept."

She could only imagine.

Must've been tough to come from one timeline where shit like this didn't happen, to another timeline where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

"How many of you are there?" Sonya questioned.

"Only a handful at the moment," Liu Kang answered. "Raiden, Kung Lao, and myself are here, but Kitana and Jade are in Outworld taking care of the mess there. And I can assure you, while our past counterparts might've been willing to trust Kotal Kahn on his word, the Kitana and Jade from my timeline will not. And Kitana is hardly one to be pushed around when she knows what's right."

She didn't have a lot of experience with Kitana before the whole Revenant thing.

But she knew that the Dark Empress wasn't one to be fucked with.

"We're heading to Outworld now to see how things are progressing- I'll be sure to pass on your word of warning to them."

Finally, someone that listened and took her words at face value.

"I appreciate that," Sonya nodded. "I got things I need to catch up here for Earthrealm, so I can't be bothered to deal with Outworld right now. I could trust you before, so I'm taking it that I can trust you now to get things worked out."

"Of course, General Blade," Liu Kang assured. "I suppose we could get your approval now to continue on to Outworld?"

"Yeah, run the machine again, I'll bypass the access code," she replied, before she turned back to Cage and waved him on- choosing to ignore the way he rolled his eyes at her before he went back to the machine.

Sonya accepted the warning on her tablet this time, allowing the machine to fully power on now, before she turned to leave.

There was a _lot_ going on right now, which alone was an understatement, that she couldn't really deal with at the moment. Past timelines and alternate timelines, and something about a Titan called Kronika- all of that she was just going to compartmentalize and take care of later. It seemed like plenty of people were dealing with it as is, so she would step in when needed, but until then she had things she needed to do first.

And right now, she just wanted to go back to her office.

She barely made it a few steps before she was immediately aware that she was being hounded.

"Where are you going?" Cassie questioned, as the girl moved to walk next to her.

"To my office," Sonya answered.

"To do what?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet," she replied, as she rubbed at the back of her neck, feeling the tight pinch of the muscles acting up now. "I got a lot of stuff to catch up on- and I got a few calls to make. Did you tell anyone that I was dead?"

"I didn't tell anyone but the system auto-registered you as KIA," Cassie answered.

_Fuck_.

Every leading General probably got a notification about it then- which meant her making a correction to it wasn't going to be as easy as swapping KIA to IA on a drop down menu. She should probably expect a few calls then, in which case she needed to think of a more proper answer to give other than she was caught up in some time reversal thing and had her death re-winded.

Then again, she didn't have a grasp on how bad things were at the moment, and considering the disarray of her own base, she could only imagine how the rest of them looked as well. It was possible that no one had had a chance to check their phones yet- or just didn't have time to deal with it at the moment.

"I really don't think you should get involved in this," Cassie spoke, "- and I'm _serious_ about that."

There was a genuine sense of sincerity in the woman's voice when she talked.

"I know you are," Sonya replied, as she continued across the garage- hoping that her office wouldn't feel as far away as it was. "I know what I look like, I know how I feel- believe me, I'm not going to be of any use to anyone like this. I can't risk leaving the base either, so just let me do what I can, even if it's not much." There was very little comfort to be had in her words, but... she just always defaulted to accepting the situation and risks, and knowing her own limits. "Besides, I'm probably just going to pass out in my chair anyways, so you have nothing to worry about."

"When have I ever not had to worry about you?" Cassie scoffed, still keeping up with her. "You told me once you were just handling paperwork, and an hour later I got a call about you hitting a roadside bomb."

"I was doing paperwork in the car," she shrugged, "- and I can't control roadside bombs, they just happen."

"They don't _just_ happen."

Sonya waved the remark off, much to Cassie's dismay. "Look, let me handle myself, alright? You got a better chance at getting things here under control- and you just got that new promotion, it's time for you to accept more responsibilities."

"I've already been running reports every fifteen minutes and checking for anomalies," Cassie replied.

"Good call," Sonya remarked. "If they're still functional, you should keep an eye on those satellites we have in Outworld- whatever kind of advantage we can provide, we need to provide it. Get that other me to run the satellites, she should have that training by now- I did, at least. I don't know what to do about Raiden, but since he's not threatening to short-circuit every piece of electronic, I don't think we'll have to worry about him. I would suggest he check out the Jinsei Temple if he hasn't already- communication up there has been a little funky lately."

"We lost the satellites in the Netherrealm, but the ones in Outworld should still be stable," Cassie nodded. "You could keep an eye on them and radio for direct support."

Another good call.

"Not a bad idea," Sonya shrugged.

"You could also stay in your office and watch from your hologram displays," Cassie continued.

"Cassie, do not try to pull rank on me and give me orders," she shut down.

"It was worth a shot."

Sonya shook her head at the remark and continued on down the corridor that exited out of the garage. She could set up a temp office in the war room, but it would be way too crowded in there- and she couldn't handle a lot of noises right now.

"Cassie, where's Jacqui?" she questioned, as she came to a slow stop- realizing now she hadn't seen the woman around yet.

And Jacqui was always around.

Sonya recalled Cassie mentioning something about Jax before in regards to the portal machine, but Jax had put in his paperwork for retirement two years ago. And he had told her he was never going to step foot on this base again, no matter what she said. And Sonya respected him enough to leave it at that, knowing well he had dealt with enough in his time- even though there were a few times where she wanted to call him up about it.

"Oh, she's somewhere around here- I think she went outside to try and get cell reception," Cassie answered, stopping with her. "She's been trying to call her parents for most of the morning, but I think the whole time thing is causing an issue."

If cell reception had been down all morning then there was a good chance no one called Jax to tell him what had happened to her, which was another bullet dodged. It made her sick to think of how he would have reacted to the news, especially given how he had almost lost Vera last year.

"Get one of the trucks prepped for transport then," Sonya started. "Jax doesn't live that far from here."

"What?"

"If the cell reception doesn't work then Jacqui can just drive over there," she reiterated. "If shit is really this bad then it wouldn't hurt to check in with him anyways- just to make sure nothing happened over there. I mean, if we have Shao Kahn in Outworld again, who knows what's going to happen here."

The woman continued to shoot her a confused look as she turned to face her. "You're serious about this?" Cassie questioned.

Given the situation, it probably did seem like an odd request.

They had enough on their hands as it was, and there was no doubt that they needed as many people on-base as they could get- and here she was asking for them to take a day trip out to Jax's ranch to check in.

Unannounced, of all things too.

"Cassie, it's really important for Jacqui to know that Jax and Vera are okay- and it's important to me too. If we have to physically drive up to their ranch to find out then that's just what's going to happen," Sonya replied, as she moved a hand to Cassie's shoulder, before she pulled the woman into hug. "Now _please_ stop questioning everything I say and just do this one thing."

It didn't take much for Cassie to return the gesture, although the woman kept her arms loose, clearly trying to keep in mind any broken ribs she might be touching.

"You must be getting pretty desperate if you said please," the woman remarked- only to then laugh when Sonya slapped the back of the head in response. "Okay, okay, you're the boss- as long as you promise not to do anything strenuous or stupid while we're gone."

"Well is there anything else I should know about around here?" she pressed.

Cassie seemed to take a moment to think her question over, which was either a good thing or a bad thing. "Uh, well, there's also a version of Dad and Uncle Jax from the Tournament around here somewhere," she finally answered, "- hopefully nowhere close to one another. Dad should be in one of the other medbays though, ever since he got slapped-" the woman stopped mid-sentence.

And Sonya felt Cassie's grip on her tighten for a moment, as though hoping she didn't catch the sudden abrupt ending.

"Cassie-"

"Okay so, don't freak out."

Sonya instinctively groaned in response.

"Just tell me what it is," she ushered.

There was a moment of hesitation before Cassie continued. "So we may have a Revenant on-base right now- and he may or may not have been incredibly pissed off the last time I saw him, which was only like thirty minutes ago."

It took a moment for the words to stick before Sonya started to pull away, only to feel Cassie tighten her arms around her in response. It took a second pull before Cassie eventually relented under the resistance and let her go.

"What Revenant?"


	5. Flock

The Elder Kung Lao gave out a heavy sigh as he leaned back against the wall behind him.

He was trying not to let the situation get out of hand, but that point had already been passed and now it felt like he was trying to do damage control instead.

Damage control on something that he was still half-informed about and had no power in controlling to begin with. He was out of his element; he didn't have half a clue about what he needed to do, but he couldn't risk exposing that weakness- not now at least. Not when he had pushed as hard as he did to make the current situation what it was right now.

His right arm was throbbing, and when he touched his fingertips to it, he felt the fresh wounds that had been cut into his skin.

He didn't know how the Revenant had managed to get him, but he had heard the sound of those nails going through his arm _before_ he felt the sharp pain- before he felt the hot blood that spilled in the aftermath.

He couldn't blame the Revenant for reacting that way; this wasn't the best situation to be jumping ship in- and this wasn't the best place to be isolated in. Not to mention, after coming from his stand-off with the younger Cage, the Revenant was already in a state of anger. And he had only made it worse by having to wrestle with the corrupted man to get him back into the holding room- lest the Revenant hunt down the wounded party.

Kung Lao knew it wasn't a good idea to touch the Revenant in an agitated state like that, but there was only so much he could do without laying a hand on him- and trying to talk the man down proved futile.

But damn, did those nails still hurt.

Fingertips followed the thin cutting lines, feeling where his skin had been split and peeled open by the glorified claws. One wide grasp and he had four cuts splitting his bicep open, with an open gash cutting down the inside from where the Revenant's thumb had dug in deeper.

A natural defense system.

It reminded him of when he used to have the nails himself.

And how he had ripped them out from his nail-beds after the recovery period, after Quan Chi's power had been drained from his body.

And how he kept ripping them out afterwards, even when it was just a normal nail growing back in. It was almost compulsive by that point; an obsession that his confused, riddled mind had latched on to. It took Fujin intervening to get him to break the habit; the Wind God had to tape his fingers together to prevent him from repeating the self-mutilation before the God managed to snap him out of the compulsion.

The damage was done by that point, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

But _this_\- what this timeline's Revenant was going through was far worse than what he had gone through. And despite his assurance to the still-possessed man, he wasn't sure just how much of him could come back from this intact.

The want to be human again was there, but the debate would come down to if his will was strong enough.

"Kung Lao?"

He straightened up at the call of his name and wiped the blood from his fingertips off on his sleeve before he turned to face the voice- hoping he had recovered well enough to avoid any questions about what he was doing. Despite his word that he would keep an eye on the Revenant, standing out in the hallway hardly qualified as doing such.

But when he turned to face the voice, the Elder Kung Lao found himself staring at a woman he didn't recognize.

And one who looked like she could really use some medical help, given the blood on her jacket.

"Some things really don't change, huh?" the woman remarked, making a gestured motion towards his hat. "Cassie told me where to find you and I've gotten caught up on most things up until now- everything except for this anyways."

The way the woman spoke to him implied that he should know who she was.

And yet his mind was scrambling for an answer that wasn't coming to him.

Even in the difference of timelines, he still had a good idea of who was who- most of them mirrored one another perfectly despite the difference in circumstances.

"You don't change perfection when you already have it," Kung Lao replied, catching the subtle chuckle on the woman's lips. "I uh, you'll have to excuse me, perhaps it's because of this timeline but I don't recognize you."

She seemed surprised by the question, which didn't seem to bole well in his favor.

And it only pushed the narrative that he should be able to recognize her.

"Sonya Blade."

And there it was.

It wasn't the name he was expecting but he knew the name and he knew the woman the name was attached to.

"Sonya?" Kung Lao repeated, before he looked her over once more- and he wasn't surprised that he didn't recognize her. "This is _you_? From this timeline? With the Elder Gods' eyes, look at you. You look good- with the exception of the blood."

And the mention of the blood, the settling on each dark spot of her jacket, sparked the memory of what this timeline's Cage had told them before- about how this timeline's Sonya had gotten crushed during the Netherrealm fortress collapse.

The very same Sonya that was standing in front of him right now, looking every bit like she had self-detonated C4 on top of herself.

"Wait, didn't you-"

Perhaps it had been the feeling of shock that washed over him at the realization, which might've given away to an equal expression of such, but Sonya raised a hand to defuse the conversation before it started.

"It's a long story," she interrupted, and the subtle mannerism only further confirmed that she was who she said she was. "And it's not important anyways. But what is important is why you look so surprised to see me. And why you didn't recognize me. Do I not look like this in your timeline?"

A rather heavy-handed question perhaps.

"No," Kung Lao replied, much to the woman's surprise it seemed. "Your hair is much shorter, like to here," he gestured to his jawline with the words, "and your left eye is a white eye- and there's a nasty scar that goes over it."

He paused, wondering if there were any potential consequences for him to be sharing information like this between timelines. Then again, if this one was on the brink of being reset, especially with the idea of restarting the past, then there seemed to be no harm in potentially screwing with it even further. They had screwed it up by coming here in the first place anyways- and there wasn't much they could do to recover from that to begin with.

"You're not a General either but you still work with the Special Forces. I don't know your exact rank and you won't tell me, so I always figured you were some kind of special agent since you're always going out to other realms on business."

Kung Lao watched as Sonya's expression shifted to one of confusion then contemplation- and then confusion again.

"What?"

"I wish I could provide you with more insight, but the you from my timeline holds many secrets and refuses to share them," he spoke. "I don't know the specific path your life took in my timeline, but I know who you are- and if it's any consolation, you're still the same righteous leader that you seem to be in this timeline. It seems that no matter what happens, no matter how many things change, you'll always be that kind of person."

His words seemed to bring some comfort, although it did little to dissuade the confusion.

She would know more about the Special Forces ranks than he did, and her confusion was probably branching from the contemplation of where she would fit in without the rank of General.

"I'll take your word for it," Sonya remarked, before she crossed her arms and set her focus on him now. "What about you? Where did your timeline take you?"

"A lot of places, some good, some bad," Kung Lao answered with a simple shrug, "nothing I couldn't handle- eventually anyways. I still work with the Shaolin and White Lotus, but I have a few things I take care of in Outworld now. In fact, you and I were just in Outworld the night before. We were sharing a drink at one of Master Bo Rai'Cho's wineries and you were filling me in on the latest job you had finished; you didn't give me any full details on it, but you were really mad about it."

He could still remember the woman's thinly-veiled frustrations; the way she drank down her first glass before he had even touched his- which should've been an indicator that he was in for a long night.

He knew it was a rather useless story to bring up given the situation now, but there was no way of preparing one's self to meet an alternate version of an old friend. And he couldn't deny the sense of odd excitement in seeing different versions of people he knew. The situation still needed to be handled with a sense of seriousness and care, but there seemed no harm in having moments like this, where they could share the difference in stories.

"We seem... close in your timeline," Sonya spoke.

"We are," he nodded- and it wasn't until he caught on to her shifted expression that he realized what she had been implying. "No, no, we're not like _that_ close," he backpedaled, which didn't seem to help considering she looked even less convinced now. "If I tell you that it's a long story, does that make this conversation any easier?"

"No." And the swiftness of her answer was all too familiar. "If anything, it makes me more suspicious about this _long_ story of yours."

He did not like her emphasis in that remark.

He guessed he could just continue the backpedaling and let the conversation stop where it was at- and just let her imagination draw a conclusion. Or at least see if she would believe him at his word.

But the conversation was already open- and it felt rude not to let her come in.

"In my timeline, all of us who were Revenant were saved during the siege on Quan Chi's fortress," Kung Lao continued instead. "Remember how I said that you had a white eye and scar in my timeline? Well, during the siege, I was the one who gave you that wound and blinded your eye- and in retaliation, you shot me in the head."

Kung Lao watched as her eyes widened at the statement.

But he held up his hands before she had a chance to speak.

"Let me rephrase that. I have zero recollection of the battle and can only go off of what you and the others told me," he corrected. "You did it out of your own need for survival and quite obviously, I deserved it. There were never any hard feelings between us about it- if anything, it's just water under the bridge now. But you insisted on doing whatever you could to help me after the whole ordeal, which is how we forged such a tight friendship."

The silence that lingered afterwards was... a given.

And Kung Lao watched as Sonya's eyes lingered on his for a moment before they moved off in thought- only to return a few seconds later as if to try and recount the story in her own mind. He could only imagine how the whole thing might sound to her; it probably sounded crazy, improbable, and yet, it was just the day to day life he lived.

"Are you... okay now?" she finally spoke again. "I mean, getting shot in the head is a pretty big deal. Surviving it is one thing, but recovering from it is another."

"I get memory lapses from time to time and I'm prone to migraines, but nothing more extreme than that," he answered, simply enough. "It took me three years to re-learn everything and get back to where I was before the whole Revenant thing, which was a little quicker than I anticipated it taking. But everything worked itself out. I'm fine with how things are now, and things are good between us- we both ended up with some cool scars and now you call me Harbinger."

"Harbinger?" she repeated.

"Yeah, you gave me a Special Forces code name because I had to stay on a base for a little while after the whole bullet-head thing," Kung Lao explained. "And it just stuck."

"But why Harbinger?"

"Because I was the first to die at the Tournament, which you said should've been a warning sign of things to come. It's a nice little inside joke between us now."

Her expression didn't seem to fit his at all.

And he had to remind himself that they weren't the same person, even if they shared the same name.

"You know, people call me insensitive," Sonya started, "- but I'm beginning to think they have the wrong Sonya."

"A matter of perspective, I think," Kung Lao replied. "But enough about a different timeline. I suppose we should be focusing on yours and figuring out how to fix it."

"Good luck," she remarked, a subtle scoff with the words. "Been trying to do that for years but it's only gotten worse each time- and now there's a time Titan here to eradicate the whole thing instead. And part of me is convinced that we should just let her."

Kung Lao felt caught off by the statement, but given the frustrated and exhausted look on the General's face, it would seem she had spoken within reason. He heard her give a sigh and watched as she looked off in thought once more before her eyes narrowed as they seemed to settle on something- and the shift in her expression gave evidence to a new thought before she looked back to him.

"So the Revenant of you is in there, I take it?" Sonya questioned, gesturing towards the door across from them.

He started to ask how she knew but decided against it; if she had been caught up on the situation then perhaps it was just obvious.

"Yes- and he's not happy about it," Kung Lao replied. "I think that tussle with the younger Cage riled him up and it's just, uh- there's a lot going on given the state he's in. Even just a spark of anger is enough to let the floodgates open. He's out of his comfort zone and separated from his allies, and he perceived the first encounter here as a threat. He's going to have a tough time fitting in."

All of which seemed to be a given.

Kung Lao knew it was the right thing to do, to pull him away from the other Revenant, to severe that Hivemind mentality at first chance; it was the only way to get the man back into his own mindset, to host his own thoughts. But seeing the Revenant act like this, to see the evident frustration and pain he was in- it was a pain he knew well himself.

He knew what the man was going through, what he would have to go through.

But to see all of it unravel from the perspective of an outsider looking in, he supposed he never realized just how bad it really was.

"It's rough seeing him like that," Sonya spoke, "- and then seeing you, and realizing this could've been him." A pause, then pierced by a harsh exhale. "It feels like we could've done so much more to fix things in this timeline and we didn't."

Her sense of guilt was noticeable in her voice as she spoke.

"What happened in this timeline?" Kung Lao asked, and despite speaking, he had doubts about whether or not he should. "Why are we still like this?"

And he watched as her expression went tense before it stiffened into a look of anger- and immediately he regretted asking.

"Two years ago, we ran another siege on the fortress and managed to capture Quan Chi and bring him to Earthrealm," Sonya started. "We were planning on using him to reverse the magic that was keeping the Revenants as Revenants- but Hanzo fucking blew it for everyone. He decided that his anger towards Quan Chi was more important than your lives and killed him- and he did so knowing full and well what our plans with the Warlock were. He was one of the three rescued during the first siege, and yet he knowingly decided to condemn the rest of the Revenants to Hell."

Kung Lao felt his stomach twist into a knot at the recounted story.

To think that someone who knew what the Revenant were going through would still decide to leave them behind for his own gain.

Then again, Hanzo was never a Revenant to begin with; Scorpion's home had always been in the Netherrealm, at Quan Chi's side.

"And then, because of Hanzo's little coup, D'Vorah managed to break through our defenses and deliver Shinnok's amulet to Quan Chi- and he managed to free Shinnok just before Hanzo cut his head off," Sonya continued, looking more and more tense with the words. "He dropped Shinnok right into the middle of the Special Forces base and he took us all out. Shinnok went straight to the Jinsei after that and sunk Earthrealm into corruption- which was a whole new thing to deal with."

An odd way to tie off the story- but Kung Lao knew a different narrative when he heard one.

"So now we have no way of undoing Quan Chi's magic- and if we kill any of the Revenant, they remain dead," she finished. "We've been trying to petition the Elder Gods to do something but they won't listen. And when Raiden went off the deep end, that was the end of it there too."

Kung Lao could feel the tension in the air between them now, and knew for certain that the topic wasn't the best to have brought up.

But curiosity was a fickle creature and it answered a lot about his Revenant self.

He could understand why the man was so angry.

To no one's fault but Quan Chi's it seemed- and Hanzo's.

"So everything that could go wrong, did go wrong," Kung Lao noted.

"That's the simplest way of putting it," Sonya nodded. "We've been barely able to keep our heads above the water since then. We've been fighting a war on two fronts now, between the Netherrealm and Outworld. There hasn't been a lot of time to try and get anything else done. We ran the siege on the fortress this morning to destroy the whole thing and cripple the Netherrealm army; we had hope that if we could back the Revenant into a corner then we could get them out one by one. We didn't have much planned after that point, our biggest concerns were about breaking the magic that was keeping them trapped in the Netherrealm. There was a working theory though; Sareena dropped a name of someone outside of the Netherrealm who could help us break the barrier- we were still getting in contact with them."

Interesting.

Kung Lao had a feeling he knew the person Sareena had referred them to.

"Kenshi had helped to free Hanzo from Scorpion before, so he had some experience- or at least, he had an idea of what he could do to help the Revenant," Sonya remarked. "And Kung Jin was pretty set that he could help you. The plan seemed plausible on paper, but we'll never know how well it would've done being executed."

The more he listened, the more this timeline really did sound like it was in the gutter.

He could understand her consideration in letting Kronika have it.

But there was a part to her story that he was drawn to.

"Is Kung Jin here?" Kung Lao questioned.

"No, he's in China with the White Lotus right now," Sonya answered. "Fujin's been keeping close tabs on him and giving me updates about him from time to time. It sounds like he's doing well with them. He was suppose to come by next month for Cassie's birthday; we were hoping we'd have a better handling on the Revenant ordeal by then. I highly doubt he knows anything about what's going on right now."

Regardless of how the rest of the timeline had gone, there was some comfort to be had knowing that his nephew was still thriving.

Perhaps not as much as Kung Jin had in his own timeline, but still; he was alive and well- and still with the White Lotus.

"Has he... seen my Revenant?" Kung Lao asked.

In his own timeline, his Revenant past had been behind him by the time Kung Jin was old enough to understand it; which meant that he as himself had been the first impression that his nephew knew. Kung Lao didn't like talking about his Revenant past; it had been pushed off like a long-lost thought, a long-lost part of his history. He didn't deny that it had happened, but there was no impression to be made from it.

Regardless, he had been the first to broach the topic with Kung Jin, giving himself a sense of control over a past he couldn't change.

But considering this timeline, he didn't have high hopes.

"Yeah, Kung Jin fought your Revenant at the Jinsei Temple during the Shinnok ordeal," Sonya answered- and before Kung Lao had a chance to ask, she interrupted him with the answer. "He lost, but thankfully your Revenant showed mercy- or at least, back-up got there before he had a chance to kill."

He should just stop asking questions by this point.

"That hasn't dampened his spirit though, Kung Jin still wants to help you," she assured.

"He's a good kid," Kung Lao nodded, "- or at least, the one I know is. I don't know if-" he stopped as he noticed her exasperated expression, "- well I suppose that says enough.

"He's... better," Sonya offered. "I think working together on a team has helped him- although now I have to deal with four of them getting into trouble."

"Kids are just like that."

Sonya humored him with a chuckle and he figured that was a good sign for once.

"Your Revenant, do you think he'd let me talk to him?"

"You technically know him better than I do," Kung Lao answered. "But, for his own sake, I think it would be beneficial for him to speak to someone from his own timeline- someone he can relate to. It'll be good for him to see someone he recognizes, although he won't see it that way, not at first anyways. And you're the best choice we have right now."

"You think so?" she questioned, curious by his last comment it seemed.

"Well, it's either you or Cage, and given how he just reacted to the latter, I think the choice is clear," he admitted. "He might not remember you, but... given everyone who's around from this timeline, I think you've got the best handle on the situation. And you've clearly always had a plan in mind on how to save the Revenant. It's that sort of compassion that he needs to see from someone- and I think he needs to see it from you."

He paused, and questioned whether his words could've been misconstrued again.

But his own experience with the woman, abet from a different timeline, had had such a profound impact on him post-Revenancy. He could remember how frequent she would check in on him while he stayed at the Jinsei Temple to heal; he could time her visits down to the minute of when she would walk through his door- punctual each and every time.

It gave him something to focus on, something to wait on.

Something to look forward to amidst the pain and confusion of trying to put his life back together.

"Outside of Raiden, it seems like you're the next in line in terms of power and command," Kung Lao continued. "You have power and merit to your words. You can say something and make it happen- and no one else has the power to make you stand down. It's- the mindset the Revenant are going through is difficult to comprehend, but they see everything in terms of power, in terms of hierarchy. So if he sees you and he knows you're at the top of the food chain and he sees compassion coming from someone like you... it'll mean something to him."

Sonya seemed caught off-guard by the extended statement. "... Is that how it worked for you?"

"To some extent, yes," he nodded. "In my case, Fujin helped me out a great deal, but that didn't diminish what you did for me either. You weren't in such a seat of command, but I remembered who you were with clarity. And knowing that someone who had witnessed what I became from start to finish still remembered and treated me as who I was before was... relieving, in a lack of better words. You were a pillar of strength for me, and I'm hoping you can be one for him as well."

She looked him over, taking his words in before she reached up and ran a hand over her braid.

"If it was plausible for us to reach Fujin, I'd call him in on this instead," Sonya spoke, "- but our communications are busted up from the time paradox going on, and I'm sure he's trying to handle enough at the Jinsei. If you think I'll be enough to convince your Revenant, I'll do whatever I have to to get him feeling at home again."

"I know you will," Kung Lao replied. "Just- there's a possibility that he might still get violent again, and given your own condition-"

"I'll be fine," Sonya interrupted. "I can handle him- I'm in better shape than he is."

He couldn't argue that.


	6. Scorched Stones

The Revenant found himself pacing the confined room, unable to sit still, unable to keep his energy from burning through his own skin.

He could hear the air escaping between his clenched teeth even though he couldn't feel himself breathing.

His head was thundering; he was still reeling from being forced out of meditation, from being forced out of a trance to keep himself calm to begin with. He was still fighting to get his energy under control, to keep it from overpowering his senses- from overpowering what little sense of self-control he had. But with each scream inside of his head, he couldn't keep his thoughts together; he couldn't get himself back under control.

_Where are you?_

_Where are you?!_

_Where are you?! Where are you?! Whereare you?! Whereareyou?!_

The voices kept filling his head, drowning out his own thoughts.

He couldn't remember what silence sounded like, not when the voices kept speaking over one another until they were just an amalgamation of one question.

Where are you?

The Emperor left the Wu Shi Temple with Geras, taking the excess Jinsei energy back to Kronika.

He should've gone back with them.

But he didn't.

And now he could feel that decision crawling across his skin.

They needed him.

And he needed them.

He shouldn't be here; he shouldn't have betrayed them-

The thought got cut from his mind almost as soon as it had crossed it.

Kung Lao forced himself to stop- to stop thinking, to stop moving, forcing himself to feel the unstable trembling in his body as it kept wanting to move despite his dictation. He could feel the energy under his skin almost scalding now, sending a numbing sensation across his nerves; it acted like a threat, threatening to burn him from the inside out if he didn't bend to its will.

He forced himself to remember the image of his past self- still young, still alive, just fresh from his victory over Goro.

His neck itched at the memory, still able to recall the sound of it breaking even now.

He couldn't remember anything from the Tournament, nothing more than just the sound of his own neck getting snapped again and again until that was all he knew.

He couldn't remember what he looked like before he was this thing.

But he did now.

He just didn't know what he was suppose to do with the information.

Slowly, Kung Lao moved a hand to touch at his face, feeling the heated flush of the burning energy that pulsated underneath his skin. He felt the ripple of scar tissue underneath his fingertips- feeling where he had once dug into his own skin in a fit of madness. The scarring wasn't visible, but he could still feel it; every time he spoke, he could feel the pull of the knotted tissue across his cheeks and jaw.

He could still feel the blood running hot down his face, hotter than it should've been.

He could still feel the throbbing pain in his eye sockets; hollow from when he had gouged both of them out.

A fit of madness; a sudden spark of realization to who he was, to who he had been, and to what he was now. He couldn't stand the sight of himself; he didn't want to be able to recognize himself- and he didn't want other people to recognize him either. That was why he did it, why he clawed at his own skin until he hit bone, peeling layers of his own face off.

It didn't matter though.

Quan Chi just put him back together.

Not out of kindness, or anything out of selfless need.

He didn't even want to be put back together.

The Warlock had been quick to berate him and tell him how useless he was as an Executioner in such a state- and that he hadn't resurrected him just so he could act out in a state of self-realized pity.

The memory didn't calm him down.

If anything, it just reminded him of the guilt, of the shame still buried inside of his bones.

Of how Quan Chi had healed him, restoring him back to proper form- and how he simply kept his head down and followed orders after that.

He didn't want to be like this anymore.

But he had been a Revenant for longer than he had been alive; he didn't know how to be anything else.

Kung Lao heard the door opening behind him but didn't care for it.

He could barely concentrate on anything outside of what was going on in his head.

"Hey, are you alright in here?"

The voice caused his energy to flare out again.

It was reacting on its own now and he felt it burning through the open carvings in his arms; he felt it twist and writhe underneath his skin, fluctuating in spots of yellow. It felt like a parasite inside of him, a foreign entity trying to pull the strings. And he couldn't fight the feeling that in his fit of madness before, in his fit of self-mutilation, he had felt the same writhing from the energy.

"Still a little mad, that's a given," the voice continued.

Kung Lao didn't know if he was mad; emotions were obsolete if not shared.

Were the others mad?

Mad at his betrayal, at his absence? Or was it disappointment?

"Christ, you did a number on this room."

Perhaps it was out of anger, out of being touched, out of being shoved back into this room that had made him lapse in any sense of self-control. He had thrown his hat in the contained space and let it run against the walls- cutting into the metal paneling with sheer ease, leaving behind strip marks that followed its path. The bladed rim was now lodged against some metal casing in the corner, having lost momentum on its forth lap around the walls.

It was something to get the burning energy out from his fingertips, although it had only partly worked.

"Can you at least turn around? I just want to talk."

His body resisted the movement.

There was nothing for them to talk about.

But there was plenty to be talked about.

He just- he couldn't stand to look at the man's face again.

They were the same person, the same age- and yet they looked nothing alike.

In this secondary timeline, he had been freed; he had been allowed to grow old, to age with grace, to recover and move on with his life.

But here, he was still frozen in time; his skin was grayed and cracked, and he couldn't remember the last time he had looked at his own face- scarred and lit up like the rest of him.

But Kung Lao drew in a staggered breath, held it full in his chest, before he slowly forced himself to turn towards the other man- the other _him_.

And there was an evident expression on the man's face that he couldn't describe, that he didn't know- but something about it didn't read correctly. It just- it didn't look right. Even if he didn't know what was being expressed, he knew it wasn't right. The tilt of his eyebrows, the downward tuck at the end of his lips, this solemn look in his eyes.

It all felt familiar but he couldn't remember.

"Are we okay?" this alternate version of himself questioned.

Kung Lao found himself hesitating to answer, unsure if it was because of his own thoughts or because he couldn't find his voice. He couldn't hear himself over the chorus that kept repeating itself over and over again in his head.

"... I don't know how to answer that," he finally spoke.

"That's alright," the other man nodded, seemingly picking up on his reluctant answer. "It's just that you cut my arm open a few minutes ago, so I want to know that we're not going to be throwing each other around again."

It had been such a blur between them swinging at one another and then being dragged back into this room that Kung Lao didn't recall cutting the man. But whether he could or couldn't recall the event didn't matter; he could see the blood dripping down the man's arm in evidence, he could see where the blood had been brushed off on his sleeve.

"I've only known you for a little over two hours now and you've already hit three people," his mirror self continued. "Two of which are technically you."

In some sense, he mused that they didn't count then.

Or at least, it shouldn't count as two different strikes.

"Keep your distance then," Kung Lao remarked, although unsure himself of whether or not the words were meant as a threat.

"Don't worry, I will," the man assured, briefly holding his hands in a mock surrender before he dropped them. "Look, we got off on the wrong foot- a couple of times- and I understand that what just happened was not the best impression for either of us. I just want to make sure that we're still on the same page here." The man paused and seemed to look him over before he continued. "Do you still want to be here?"

It felt a little too late to be asking that question now.

And yet, Kung Lao still found himself hesitating to answer it.

He didn't want to be a Revenant anymore, that much was true.

But he was beginning to doubt that he could even exist outside of being one.

"Yes."

The man gave a seemingly relieved nod. "Do you still trust me?"

Could he even risk not trusting himself?

Especially after he had already turned his back on the others?

"... Yes."

The man seemed satisfied with the answers- and more relieved as well. "Good," his mirror self nodded once again, but this time when the man looked at him, there was this look in his eyes; a sense of knowing. "Do you still hear them?"

Kung Lao wished he couldn't.

With every repeated question, there was this weight of guilt, this weight of impending dread that kept building up inside of him. He could feel the weight of it on his shoulders, in his ribs; it manifested as a hollow throbbing in his chest.

"They're asking for me," he answered.

"Have you answered them?"

At this distance, he wouldn't be able to- no matter how badly he wanted to if he could.

"No."

His mirror self gave another nod in response before the man took a step forward, as though to test his reaction- to which Kung Lao forced himself to stay where he was, even if he wanted to mirror the man's motions.

"Are you okay?"

An odd question it felt.

It didn't feel like he could say yes, but saying no would complicate things.

"I can't answer that," Kung Lao spoke, settling on that answer instead.

"That's fine," the man assured once more. "It's a lot to ask given the circumstances- and I'm only asking it because there's someone here who wants to speak with you. But I'm not going to risk it if you don't want to talk, and I can't risk you losing it on someone else here, especially not someone of this caliber from your own timeline."

Kung Lao felt a sense of curiosity with the man's words and looked him over, trying to figure out what his mirror self was getting at.

Someone of caliber? From his own timeline?

"Why?"

"Because she wants to know if you're okay," his mirror self answered. "Do you want to speak with her?"

His skin itched at the thought of speaking to someone different, especially someone from his own timeline- someone who knew who he was, before and after what he was now. And it felt like someone was scratching at the inside of his skull at the thought of it; at the thought of a confrontation, an interrogation, of the pressures that would no doubt be coming with the anticipated questioning.

Kung Lao didn't get a chance to answer before the door behind the other man slid open.

He didn't know who the woman who entered the room was- not at first anyways; although the longer he looked at her, the more familiar she felt. He could see the bloodstains on her clothing and it didn't take long to pick up on the heavy scent of blood coming off of her. As she walked into the room, he took note of the subtle limp in one leg, noticing how it caused her gait to be jagged as she moved.

It only drove his curiosity to question why she would be here, in this room with him- willingly, and on her own accord it seemed.

Kung Lao felt the hot energy surge under his skin once more; he felt it react faster than his mind did, faster than his mind could, all out of pressured instinct.

"Hey-" his mirror self started, stepping between him and the woman, "- _this_ is what I was talking about."

Even as the man spoke, the woman continued towards them, and eventually she reached out to place a hand on his mirror self's shoulder.

"It's alright," she started. "Give us some privacy, would you? I can handle things from here."

"That is not what I agreed to," the man objected, turning now to face the woman. "If something happens, you're not exactly in a position to defend yourself- and we talked about what could happen. I'm not willing to run the risk."

"I can handle it," she assured- and the subtle bite in her voice sounded convincing enough.

The two were speaking to one another about him and yet they were acting like he wasn't in their presence while they did so. There was a tug of realization that the feeling was a little too familiar with him.

"Nothing will happen," Kung Lao interjected, interrupting the quiet argument.

And while he couldn't quite make a full promise on the words, it was something said to stop the blatant talking.

He watched as his mirror self looked to him and then to the woman and then back to him- clearly caught between two oppositions, and not the least bit thrilled about it. And he watched as the older man closed his eyes, pinching the space between them for a moment, before he put his hands up in defeat.

"Okay," the man surrendered. "Just call for me if something happens- to either of you."

"There's a medbay down the hallway, take a left," the woman spoke, patting him on the shoulder now.

"I got it, I got it."

And with that, his mirror self stepped away and headed out of the room- but not without sparing one more look over his shoulder before doing so.

With his departure, it left just the two of them here.

"I had to come see you for myself," the woman started, as she turned to place her full attention on him now, "had to see if it was true."

And Kung Lao felt a sense of regret at agreeing to this as he watched the woman look him over, seemingly taking in every detail there was to him. He couldn't stop himself from wondering just what it was she was thinking about, what came to mind as she looked him over. Was it disgust? Hatred?

"If what was true?" Kung Lao questioned.

"That you were here, that you were on-base," she continued. "I'm up-to-date on what's going on around here but... I had to come see you. I put in a lot of work just to justify entertaining a scenario like this, and just my luck it happens while the world is on its knees."

He watched her carefully, studying her now- trying to make sense of what she was saying.

Trying to figure out how he was supposed to interpret her words.

She almost seemed... relieved to see him.

[But that couldn't be right.]

"What happened to you?" Kung Lao spoke instead.

"I blew up the Netherrealm fortress this morning," she answered. "You weren't there for the show?"

"No," he started, realizing now that he had seen the destroyed aftermath, he had witnessed the resurrection done by Kronika's hand, but he didn't see the fortress itself go down. "I wasn't there."

"Where were you?"

The question was jarring as it forced him to think about those hours before, to think about how he had been in the Netherrealm, how he had been with the other Revenant. And there was this pain in his head and chest when he thought about them. He found himself wondering just how many of them might've gotten crushed in the debris, trapped underneath the rubble, dying a second death.

"I was away," Kung Lao spoke, giving little more of an answer than that.

"Probably a good thing, considering," she offered.

Maybe.

Kung Lao watched as the woman stepped towards him, perhaps as another test on his boundaries- and this time he found himself stepping back from her, keeping the space between them an equal distance.

A precaution; something she at least took hint at and stopped.

"What do you want?" he pressed.

"I just want to talk," she seemed to assure. "Do you know who I am? Do you remember?"

No, not exactly.

Maybe he did.

It was hard to tell.

"Vaguely," Kung Lao answered, trying to study her face a little harder, grasping for an answer that would help the both of them, "- the Jinsei Temple."

"Not the memory I was hoping for, but you're right," she nodded. "It's Sonya."

The name didn't ring as much as he thought it might, as much as he might've wanted it too; and she seemed to assume the same.

"I think I liked the other guy's reaction more," Sonya remarked, "but I'm not surprised. It's been awhile."

"What do you want?" he questioned, and it didn't cross his mind that the question came across as sharp.

"This may seem alien to you, but I'm trying to help you- I've _been_ trying to help you," she answered, swiftly at that. "I know how it looks, but we didn't just forget and move on. The siege on Quan Chi's fortress was a huge break for us and we've been trying to recreate it for years- with no luck. The longer you were in the Netherrealm, the stronger you got, and the harder it was for us to get through. We tried everything we could think of; I studied more about demon magic than I cared to know about. We've had a plan rigged along for months and we tried to act on it today- and like every other plan, it just blew up in our faces."

"You destroyed the fortress to destroy the Netherrealm army," Kung Lao spoke, "to weaken us."

"To make you easier to catch," Sonya nodded. "Which, outside of context, it sounds bad- I get it. But if the only way to get you out of the Netherrealm was by force than so be it. It was the only option we had left since Quan Chi was killed."

"We can't leave the Netherrealm," he reminded.

"You're here now, aren't you?" she countered.

"Because Kronika's power allowed me to leave," Kung Lao retorted.

He was almost convinced she was just fucking with him by this point.

And perhaps she had picked up on the subtle hostility that was bleeding into the conversation. The woman gave a brief sigh and rubbed a hand against one of the bloodied stains on her jacket. "We had a plan for that too," Sonya replied, a little easier with the words now. "I've been working around this issue for twenty-five years- believe me, I had everything dotted and crossed on paper. I just... didn't anticipate the ceiling to come down on top of me. Regardless, there were people in place to follow in after me if something was to go wrong. It was supposed to work- it had to."

There was a shift in her tone with her last remark, making it different from her previous statements.

"But now there's a time Titan in the fucking way, and we just lost our hold- again."

Kung Lao found himself stuck on thinking about what she had said, repeating the words of her best laid plan over and over again in his head.

It sounded ridiculous to him- improbable.

And yet, there was a chance it could've worked.

With the Netherrealm army gone, it would've just been them left; and without the fortress or access to Shinnok's aura, they would've been easy to corner. There would've been a hell of a fight, but he was beginning to see doubts that they would've held out long enough to win. They used to be some of Earthrealm's greatest warriors, but being outnumbered in a fight was the easiest way to be outmatched.

If such had been the case, would he have gone willingly under those circumstances?

Or would he have put up the greater fight like the others?

Kung Lao felt the heat of the energy under his skin go cold momentarily; he felt the writhing against his bones cease as he contemplated what might've been his options in this what-if scenario.

"You were... actually serious about this?" he questioned- and even he had to admit just how low his voice came out.

"Like I said, as much as it seems like it, we didn't just forget and move on," Sonya reminded.

Kung Lao didn't respond- unsure exactly of what to say next.

And he felt the silence build between them.

He watched as Sonya took another step towards him, inching her way closer to him- and he stayed where he was this time, unsure of where else or what else he could do. And given their previous conversation, given how she kept repeating the same mindset, there was some curiosity in seeing what she might do. If she got closer to him, if she saw all the details that didn't make him human anymore, would she still think him capable of saving?

His curiosity was answered as she reached out to him, looking as though she was hesitating with the gesture herself, before she let her hand brush against his arm.

Her touch was oddly warm.

It didn't carry the same kind of heat that stirred under his skin.

It was different, more natural.

When he didn't react, perhaps not in the way she was anticipating, and given he had already sliced three people open he couldn't blame the hesitation, she slowly wrapped her fingers around his arm- solidifying the gesture.

And the motion caught him by surprise.

Why would she want to get close to him? Let alone touch him willingly- and with such gentle ease at that.

Kung Lao could feel his skin crawling from the touch, but he did nothing to deter her.

There was something about having her fingers curled against his arm that invoked a feeling he couldn't figure out; an odd knot in his chest that felt tight underneath his skin. It stirred up a question in the back of his mind that he couldn't answer, no matter how much he struggled for one. When was the last time someone touched him so gently like this? With no ulterior motive behind it, no strings attached to the motion? Although he supposed it was too early to assume that there wasn't something hidden behind the act.

"Look at you," Sonya spoke once more, quieter this time, as her fingers brushed against one of the open carvings on his skin. And despite feeling nothing from the touch, he still flinched at the contact. "You look worse than the last time I saw you."

He didn't owe her an explanation, but in the grand scheme of things it seemed like the least that he could do.

"After Quan Chi died, our- _this_ energy destabilized," Kung Lao started, feeling the way her fingertips now traced the glowing streak of energy under his skin, following it down to the cuff of his gauntlet. An exploratory touch maybe. "Without a controlled focus, we couldn't manage the energy ourselves- not immediately anyways. It ruptured and became unstable. If we were weaker people, we would've been destroyed by it."

The small pit of silence that followed seemed to give her time to think his words over.

"Are you saying that you guys went through some kind of... meltdown?" Sonya questioned. And the rather stumped expression on her face gave way that even she herself couldn't think of a better way to phrase it.

"It's a word to use," he offered. "I think being exposed to the Jinsei eruption from Raiden's energy acted as a catalyst to the whole destabilization." He touched at the same split carving on his arm, vaguely remembering how the possessing energy had first ripped his skin apart; and how the current wound was much smaller now compared to the initial injury.

"It sounds painful," she remarked.

"It was- beyond anything any of us had experienced," Kung Lao spoke, "- including what Sindel had done to most of us."

It wasn't experience he shared, but it was a shared consensus amongst the others who had died to the corrupted Queen's hand. As for how the Revenant Queen related it, it was on-par with the explosive energy that took both her and Nightwolf out.

For him, it was just pain unlike anything he could compare it too.

He caught the way she seemed to flinch at the comparison, a subtle grimacing look on her face as she did.

If she had been a witness to what the Mad Queen had done, then she would know well about what he was talking about. In fact, she would know more about it than he did, considering he had only learned about what had happened from the other Revenants- including Queen Sindel herself. If anything, it gave him some reprieve that he had been long gone before then.

"Wait, so after the whole ordeal with Shinnok and the Jinsei, Earthrealm was barely keeping its head above the water," Sonya started, looking as though she had suddenly stumbled across a thought. "Are you telling me that the same went for you? For the Revenant?"

"If you had enacted your plan immediately following the ordeal, there would have been no contest," Kung Lao nodded. "We would've been too weak to fight back- although that's not to say there weren't other options for us. Suicide was something we briefly considered."

"_Jesus_-"

"We weren't exactly in the right frame of mind," he remarked, "- but pain will do that."

"Believe me, I've seen it," Sonya replied. "I'm just... surprised that something like that happened. I guess I never thought about the direct repercussions Quan Chi's death would have you."

"The fortress was quieter in his absence."

An odd-given remark maybe, but it was true.

And it was odd enough to cause the woman to chuckle.

"It's still frustrating though, knowing that it was just another lost opportunity for us," she continued, "- and probably the easiest one at that."

"You couldn't have known," Kung Lao reminded.

And even he caught himself by surprise that it seemed like he was trying to comfort her.

In some way, it looked like she needed it, especially if everything she had told him was true; and in all facts of the matter, he had no reason to not trust her. She certainly looked the part of blowing up a fortress and she had already given him an explanation of why Earthrealm needed to. And it wasn't just simply to get them out of the way, to make them easier to hunt down and kill.

It made him start to question everything he had done up until this point.

Slowly reverting him back to that mindset that had driven him to madness before.

"We could've tried harder," Sonya spoke, insistent on that ideal. "Quan Chi was dead, Shinnok was captured, the Jinsei expulsion- it should've been obvious." A frustrated sigh escaped her as she moved a hand to brush over her hair, before she pulled a long braid over one shoulder. She tugged lightly at the end of it as if in thought. "But then again, Johnny, Raiden, and Kung Jin were almost dead as well- not to mention Takeda and Jacqui's injuries, and Kenshi and Jax's. God, that really was a shitshow."

"Sounds like both sides were suffering," Kung Lao remarked.

"We were," she nodded, "but we eventually recovered- I'm not sure if the same could be said for you."

"We recovered, just not how you wanted us to," he replied.

It was a simple response, nothing more than that- and yet he could see this strike of pain in her eyes. He watched how her fingers tightened around the end of her braid, twisting it slightly between them; it looked like a familiar gesture, but he couldn't figure out if it was familiar to her or to himself.

Kung Lao felt a cold chill run down his spine at the look behind her eyes as they settled on him once more.

"I'm sorry."

Despite their relatively calm discussions, despite her open gesture of touching his arm, it was those two words that caught him off-guard.

He remembered his mirror self telling him about how the people he had once known would apologize out of turn. And despite it being one of the selling points that had him here instead of with the others, Kung Lao was still skeptical of it. He was almost convinced he had been sold on a dream, on a fluke that anyone here would recognize him, let alone bother with an apology.

And yet, Sonya had come here specifically because she remembered him.

And she laid out everything Earthrealm had tried, everything that went wrong; she laid out regrets and what could have been.

And now she ended it with an apology.

After everything he had done, after twenty-seven years of causing havoc and torment, he didn't deserve kindness, let alone forgiveness.

And yet-

"It never should've gone on for this long. A lot of time has passed and you've missed out on so much-"

"_Why_?"

It was the only word he could get out- and he had inadvertently interrupted her with it.

And his pressing manner caught her by surprise.

"Why what?" Sonya repeated.

He still couldn't quite get his voice and thoughts together.

Every time he tried to think, it was like his mind just instantly erased whatever he managed to conjure.

"... Why are you doing this?" Kung Lao continued, forcing each word out as it came to him. "- Why are you apologizing?"

She seemed to meet his confused reaction with one of her own, before she pulled herself back together. "Because despite everything we tried, we couldn't save you- we couldn't save any of you," she answered. "And that's no one's fault but our own-"

"We fought you every step of the way," he reminded.

"That wasn't you," Sonya countered. "You never asked for this."

The words felt like a physical blow.

And they hit hard enough that Kung Lao heard the repeating question, the repeating voices in his head go silent.

Sonya moved her hand back to his arm and squeezed him with a tight grip. "You may not remember me, but I remember you. I knew you during the Tournament; I knew who you were before the Tournament," she spoke, careful yet firm with her words now- as though ensuring that he heard and listened to her. "And I know that what happened afterwards, what happened now, that's not something you would do on your own free will. But this- you being here now, away from the others, away from the Netherrealm, I think this is you, the _real_ you. This is you fighting twenty-seven years of possession and finally making a break for it."

Kung Lao felt her hand loosen its grip before she pulled it away- and he caught himself wanting to catch it, to bring it back, not yet ready to let the connection go.

His world had already collapsed the moment he left with his past self instead of with the Dark Emperor.

And with each minute, with each encounter, it felt like more and more of his self-made sanctuary was crumbling. He could feel the need, the pull to return to the others, to return to where they had gathered at Kronika's side.

It only crossed his mind now that his sense of comfort, his pack mentality had to crumble.

He had to lose one world in order to rebuild the next, just as he had gone through before.

But just like before, this new world seemed to hate him with every step he took, with every person that he met- given, it wasn't like he himself was innocent in those encounters either.

This encounter though, this meeting between them, it felt like it was the first sign that things would get better.

The subtle heat of her touch was a comfort he wasn't expecting- and now the absence of it made his skin go cold again.

At least until he felt her hand against his face now, as Sonya cupped it against his cheek instead. And he could feel the pull of the scar tissue beneath her palm; he felt the sudden tightness of it, the subtle pain that seemed to radiate with being touched by someone else- something he had always avoided.

"It can't be easy to be here, to be doing this- but then again, that was never your style."

Kung Lao hesitated before he slowly moved a hand to cover her own, feeling the touch of skin between them.

It felt alien yet familiar to him all in one.

He didn't know how long he had dissolved himself into silence, but it didn't go unnoticed.

"What's wrong?" Sonya questioned, lightly moving her hand as though to shake an answer out of him.

"... No one's ever said that before," Kung Lao started, "- that I never asked for this."

"Given the company, I'm not surprised," she remarked. "But if you choose to stay here, if you choose to stay with us, we can fix that- we could fix a lot of things."

If he chose to stay.

It didn't feel like he had any other option now, given how quickly he had burned the bridge with the other Revenant, with Kronika herself.

But she made it seem like he still had the choice to turn away.

Not that he would.

No matter how difficult things would get from here on, he wouldn't go back.


	7. Footprints

Kitana waited until the Osh-Tekk leader had turned his back before she rolled her eyes, making an exaggerated show of it.

She could physically feel the strain of her patience wearing thin, and had to keep herself held together- to keep herself from making a remark as the supposed Kahn finally walked away to tend to other business.

As if there was something more important to tackle than the ordeal they were facing now.

At the very least, Kotal had stopped talking, which was all she could ask for.

She felt Jade slap her on the arm, which gave way that her strained eye roll didn't go unnoticed.

"We don't need him," Kitana finally spoke, tired of holding her breath. "He talks too much for us to get anything done, he'll just get in our way."

"We are out of our element and out of our own timeline here, we need as many allies as we can manage," Jade reminded, speaking firm from a place of logic- and frustration, it seemed. "Earthrealm is doing what it can to reunite as many fighters as possible, we must do the same- even if it involves Kotal."

"Your ex-boyfriend."

"We never dated," her friend corrected.

Kitana gave a soft huff. "That's not what I remember."

Another slap to the arm convinced her to drop the topic.

There were a lot of things for them to take care of, a lot of things for them to try and get back under control.

And the fact that it had all just been dropped into their laps without warning only made it that more frustrating to deal with.

She had had enough to deal with in their own timeline.

But now she was here, in the future, basically dealing with the exact same ordeals- but with less control over them.

Shao Kahn was attempting to take control of Outworld for Kronika's army, so that he might rewrite his own future, so that he could rewrite how fate had had him killed during the Tournament.

How fate had killed all of them during the Tournament.

Herself included.

"What are our plans moving forward then?" Kitana questioned, attempting to put herself back on track- lest she go back down the crippling rabbit hole of their current situation. There was a lot of work for them to do, they couldn't risk wasting any more time standing around debating it. "The Osh-Tekk are willing to help, but Shao Kahn has the Tarkatans on his side- and with Baraka at the front, they won't be as easily defeated as Kotal thinks so."

"He has Skarlet as well," Jade reminded.

Of course.

Skarlet made this scenario even more complicated.

While she had never personally stuck around them for long, Kitana had seen the Tarkatan camps before; she knew what kind of carnage and gore was strung about like decoration in those camps. Skarlet would be well within her element in them, which would be problematic should they try and force a head-on conflict. Pure blood was limited, but fresh blood was never scarce around Tarkatans. It would be enough to give Skarlet the advantage she would need, the advantage she would be depending on should battle occur.

They needed just as many advantages as they could get; they couldn't risk Skarlet getting the upperhand on them.

If Skarlet so much as slowed them down, it would leave them open to Baraka, to the rest of the Tarkatan army.

And Kitana wasn't willing to risk such a fate.

"Do you think Sheeva is still around?" Jade questioned. "We could try to convince her to join us as well. A Shokan unit would be a good starting point for us."

"We could- but you heard what Kotal has said. He started war with the Shokans and maimed Prince Goro in battle," Kitana reminded, irritated still by the news Kotal had practically boasted about. "Sheeva will not help us if she knows that we are working with him." She gave a pause, trying to quell the continued frustration growing in her chest, only to lose the fight. "Kotal is more trouble than he is worth to us."

"We just got here, Kitana," Jade ushered, sounding as equally frustrated as her. "Give him a chance."

"He's only helping us because he wants to sleep with you- _again_."

Jade gave a frustrated, almost muffled scream from her throat before the woman whipped around towards her. And Kitana felt that maybe she had finally pushed that line in the sand a bit too far, especially given the look that Jade was burning through her right now.

"And Liu Kang is _any_ different?" Jade pressed.

"I never said that," Kitana lightly scoffed.

In all fairness, there was definitely a difference in how Kotal and Liu Kang acted- and how the two acted around them.

For one, Liu Kang had manners.

And he wasn't so offensive on the eyes.

And he also didn't enforce multiple counts of genocide in Outworld.

"Can we _please_ just focus?" Jade snapped.

As much as Kitana was semi-enjoying riling Jade up, there were more important things for them to be focusing on.

Namely how they were going to circumvent this entire ordeal going forward.

They needed to keep an eye on Shao Kahn and his movements, but in order to do so they needed to track down the Tarkatans and their camp- which could be an issue. Kitana had some knowledge of where the Tarkatans liked to set up their camps, but she wasn't certain if the information was still relevant two decades later. Especially given how sparse their populations were in this apparent future.

Tarkatans were creatures of habit, but that wasn't to say that they couldn't change.

Especially not with Shao Kahn at the helm now.

"Where do we start?" Kitana asked, carefully broaching the topic- mindful of her friend's irritation with her now. "Do we track down the Tarkatans or try and hunt this D'Vorah down first?"

Jade didn't answer immediately.

But given how the woman's eyes moved around in a trackless matter, the silence was just in part to her thinking process.

"The Kytinn Hive has never changed, it might be best for us to start there," Jade offered. "As for the Tarkatans, there's three places I can think of where they might be located but that's it. With Shao Kahn leading them, there's no telling where they could be anymore."

They shared the same issues then.

"Kotal would know," Jade reminded.

Kitana groaned in response, but opted to mind her tongue this time.

"I suppose we can ask him then," she replied, admittedly through gritted teeth, "- but he's not coming with us."

"Grow up."

With a sense of great reluctance, Kitana moved to follow Jade as the woman went on to tracking down the Osh-Tekk leader. She didn't like Kotal's authoritative manner, but she supposed she would be hypocritical to not call herself out on it as well. She didn't like for someone else to be making the shots and giving her orders, treating her like she was some kind of common soldier.

Even if he was Outworld's ruling Kahn.

And even if they were in his camp right now.

And even if they were depending on his army to help overthrow Shao Kahn's.

They only made it a few feet before Kitana stopped, feeling a seemingly cold chill run down her back despite the hot Outworld sun above them. It felt like there was a shift in the breeze somewhere, and it was just enough to alert her to someone else's presence- to someone who wasn't there before. It reminded her of how she used to track Reptile while he was camouflaged, using the Saurian's natural abilities to hone her own assassin skills.

And right now, the gifted trait from decades spent as an assassin, from decades spent needing to keep an eye on her own back, was telling her that something was wrong.

Kitana noticed that Jade had stopped as well, no doubt feeling the same thing.

"Took you long enough to notice," a voice called out from behind them, confirming her suspicions.

Kitana turned at the voice, fingers already disengaging her fans as she slid into a fighting stance- not willing to take a chance with this timeline. She caught sight of Jade doing the same at her side; the woman's bojutsu staff fully extended in preparation.

There was a shift of movement in front of them, a subtle distortion before a woman emerged out of thin air.

An illusive cover; a common tactic.

Kitana watched as the woman stepped forward, before a second woman appeared just the same next to her.

It was difficult to describe the woman who revealed herself to them.

She was dressed in a pattern of blue and black, with an oddly armored waist cincher, and an assortment of plated armor on her neck, chest, and shoulders. At first sight, it was hard to tell exactly what the woman was wearing, let alone try and simple it down to something she could understand. Black hair had been split, with two parts of it braided and one part of it curled into a bun, in which the two braids were pinned into it at the sides.

The blue veil covering the woman's face was a give away.

As were the armored fans that dangled from the woman's hips.

The other woman with her was dressed in a pattern of green, black, and gold- and was a little more conservative than her blue counterpart. Her arms were wrapped in black binding with golden armor covering her forearms and biceps, providing the only bit of armor the woman had. A black halter top was tied behind the woman's neck before it disappeared under a royal-green bustier, giving off a sense of elegance to the woman's attire.

And there was no denying the similar-looking bojutsu staff the woman carried at her side, nor the green veil that she too adorned.

Kitana stepped back at their appearance, at the knots that formed in her thoughts and in her throat.

She felt the sudden grip of Jade's hand around her arm and caught sight of the woman angling her staff in front of the both of them.

Despite the confusion and shock, Jade's instincts were still to protect her- to protect the both of them.

"Well, well," the first woman spoke, before she reached up and pulled down on her blue-veil, revealing a face Kitana should've been expecting and yet was still shocked to see. "It took awhile to track you down- and this was the last place I would have expected, despite the information we were given."

Kitana could feel her heart beating in her throat now.

She felt a bead of cold sweat roll down the back of her neck.

"It's a pity."

"What's going on?" Jade pressed, the first to speak from their end.

"Is it not a given?" the other woman mused, before she too removed her green veil- revealing an equally familiar face. "I suppose not, given how things have been going for you so far."

"You're me?" Kitana questioned, fighting herself to get the words out. "But... the me from this timeline is dead."

"I never said I was from this timeline," her seemingly other self spoke. "Kronika has made a mess of things, and like everything else that goes wrong, somehow it always comes to us to make it right again."

"The power that Kronika wields is fragile, and where it is assumed to run forward and back, it is instead uncontrollable- even beyond the Titan's command," the second version of Jade continued. "Thus, you get mishaps like this one, where we are not from this past nor this future, but rather from a timeline to the left or right. An unforgivable mistake, but we have no choice but to do with it what we can."

Her head was already hurting from the explanation.

It was difficult enough to understand how she was in the future to begin with, leaving her own place in the timeline behind.

But now there was... another version of her?

"We're from a separate timeline," Kitana's separate half retorted. "I am what you become when you don't stay as a Revenant."

"_This_?" Kitana gestured to the other woman with the pointed remark.

"Would you rather be dead, as you are _now_?" her future self snapped.

And Kitana felt the tense sharpness in the woman's voice, felt the way it shivered under her skin.

"I didn't think so."

"Let's retrace our steps here," Jade spoke, speaking over their heated conversation. "In terms of this timeline, we are from the past, and our future selves are both dead and Revenant. But... you two are from a separate timeline, where we are not?"

"We still lost our lives at the Tournament," Jade's future half corrected. "The difference is that we do not stay dead and Revenant. The Special Forces recovered us after five years, during a battle at Quan Chi's fortress. It wasn't pretty but it got the job done, and now we are like this- alive and thriving, which is good considering this incident has now occurred."

So... now there was three of them in one timeline?

How were they going to correct this going forward?

They didn't even know if they could send themselves back into the past- or if they would even be able to stop Kronika to begin with.

"You look confused," Jade's future half spoke. "That is a given."

"I thought this situation couldn't get any worse- and yet it has," Kitana remarked.

"Oh, it's about to get much worse," Kitana's future self replied, looking to something behind them now.

Before Kitana had a chance to question the woman, she heard the answer for herself.

"What is the meaning of this?"

_Of course._

Kitana turned to watch as Kotal approached their dysfunctional group; his eyes passing from one person to the next and to the next.

And from an outsider looking in, it was probably even more confusing.

"To grasp the meaning of this would be above your brain function," Kitana's future half spoke, giving a subtle wave of her fan towards the man. "If you'll excuse us, we have important matters to take care of- none of which involve you."

Kitana was surprised by her other half's attitude towards the man.

Noticing that it seemed to mirror her own sense of disdain with him.

And it didn't go unnoticed to the Outworld Kahn.

Kotal sized himself up at the blatant display of disrespect. "As Kahn and leader of this camp, you bear no power to tell me what to do here," he spoke. "This situation with Kronika affects me just as greatly as it affects you, and I will do everything in my power to prevent her and Shao Kahn from achieving their goal. Outworld depends on me to set this right."

Kitana rolled her eyes once more at the man's words.

And caught her future self doing the same.

"That is very nice, Kotal, but it does little to sway me," Kitana's future half continued, blatantly disregarding the man's full title, while waving her fan once more. "Now please stop wasting your time and mine. We have plans we must take care of- and your attendance is not needed, nor is it wanted."

"You don't-"

"This isn't up for discussion," her future self interrupted. "Your power here may be important to you, but I am not from here, thus you have no jurisdiction over me. If anything, Kotal, you're no better to me than you are in my own timeline."

"Your own timeline?" the man questioned.

"You are a very nice fur rug," Jade's future self interjected.

"And you're more useful to me as that rug than you are here as Kahn," Kitana's future self continued.

"You know, funny story, Mileena never told us how she did it- but your blur fur is very soft and velvety," the future half of Jade mused, edging the conversation on. "And it looks very fitting in front of a warm fire. Mileena takes good care of you too."

Kitana watched the subtle back-and-forth tag-teaming going on in front of her.

Part of her was amused, the other half mildly horrified.

And when she glanced over to see Jade's reaction, she could only describe the expression of mild concern.

"Mileena?" Kitana questioned, alongside Kotal.

"Outworld Kahn," Kitana's future half answered. "I had some objections to it, but seeing how this timeline has turned out, I'm beginning to think that she really was the better choice. I think you would find that allying with Mileena would've proven more beneficial than allying with... this _thing_."

The woman flickered her fan towards Kotal with the last remark.

"Mileena was insane and she would've driven Outworld to ruin," Kotal spoke.

Kitana could feel the heat of her future self's glare as the woman turned on Kotal, clearly unamused and unimpressed by his interruption and persistence. She watched as the woman crossed her arms and set to stare the man down- ignoring that he was taller than she was.

"And yet, Outworld is fine in our timeline," the woman continued. "And so is Edenia for that matter. And yet- I do not sense Edenia here."

"You have Edenia?" Jade interjected.

"Oh yes, it was a bitch to get back, but it was well worth the struggle," Jade's future self nodded. The woman extended her bojutsu staff before she staked it into the ground behind her, allowing her to lean back against it now. "Mileena knew where Shao Kahn had hidden the Edenian orb, and once the matters in Outworld had settled, and we were clean from the Netherrealm, she summoned it back. It was quite the spectacle."

Kitana felt a cut of envy with the words.

She had never known about Edenia until days before.

But now that she was aware of it, all she could focus on was how out of place she felt in Outworld now.

"Tell me, Kotal, do you even know where Shao Kahn hid Edenia?" Kitana's future self queried once more.

"No, but it cannot be difficult to find," the Kahn answered. "We have destroyed most of Shao Kahn's memorials and his palace. The only place we have yet to reach is his burial chambers, which is where I presume it has been hidden. He has taken Edenia to his grave."

Kitana's future self let out a thoughtful hum and tapped her fan against her chin in thought.

The woman glanced around the camp as if looking for something, only to not find whatever it was she was seeking.

"Answer this for me, Kotal," she continued. "Tanya and Rain, where are they?"

"Dead," Kotal answered. "They had aligned themselves with Mileena and acted as opposition to Outworld. I had to get rid of them to protect it."

"Interesting," her future self remarked.

And when the woman turned back towards them, Kitana knew there was an ulterior motive to the woman's question.

"Tell me, as Edenians yourself, why would you align yourself with a man who has murdered three Edenians?"

Kitana frowned at the question, feeling a slight surge of anger herself.

For a moment, it felt like all of her irritation and anger towards the false Kahn was justified now.

"General Rain and Tanya were Edenians?" Jade questioned.

Admittedly, Kitana had limited knowledge of the two.

She knew Rain to be one of Shao Kahn's Generals, and she knew that Tanya was one of his advisers, one of his tacticians. They were always in the Emperor's council, but Kitana could count on one hand the amount of times she might've interacted with them herself.

"Tanya was the daughter of a high-ranking Edenian Ambassador," Jade's future half spoke, filling them in on the information they were missing. "Rain was moonlighting as the son of an Edenian General, but his real father was Argus, Edenian's Protector God. I'm not close to either of them, maybe cordial at best, but I understand the gravity of what their deaths have brought to this timeline."

"Shao Kahn had a knack for collecting Edenians," Kitana's future self tagged on. "And now, there is another Kahn standing before me who wishes not to collect, but to kill."

"I did not kill them because they were Edenian!" Kotal objected.

"But it is rather suspicious, is it not?" her future half continued to press. "Do not try to defend yourself to me. I will be handling this matter from now on. You may find yourself a quiet corner to sit in and dwindle with your own work- but do _not_ cross mine."

"You are in no position to make commands at me."

"You will be in a position without legs if you try me," Kitana's other half continued to bat in return. "Come, we will handle this matter on our own. The ordeal with Kronika and our Revenants is our responsibility, and ours alone. Outsiders are not welcomed."

Kitana watched as her future self turned away and began making her way out of the camp.

She watched as Jade's other half straightened up, plucked her bojutsu staff from the ground, and turned to leave just the same.

And she didn't hesitate to follow them.

"We'll handle finding D'Vorah and Baraka. You stay here and keep an eye out for movement from Shao Kahn," Jade spoke to Kotal, before she too moved to join them.

Jade was a peacekeeper.

Which was a good thing- and also a mild annoyance.

But one could be assured that Jade had never burnt a bridge in her life.

Other than with Shao Kahn.

In a bit of a surprise, and relief, the four of them made it out of the camp without further resistance.

Then again, Kotal probably wanted them gone.

"So now what?" Kitana asked, trying to bite back what felt like a surge of adrenaline coursing through her now. "We don't really know where we're going- or how we're going to get there."

"The Kytinn Hive is a landmark," Jade's future half remarked. "And the Tarkatans are where they usually are, or at least where they should be. And if not, then we'll be able to track them by scent- as they do with people."

One couldn't deny that a Tarkatan camp was easy to detect by the smell of roasting human meat.

An agonizing smell, but a well recognized one.

"I also stole some of Kotal's horses before we went inside," Kitana's future half spoke. "Transport will be easy."

True to her word, there were three Outworld horses hidden away not too far from the Osh-Tekk camp. They had already been saddled up, but they were probably already like that before they were taken from their hitching posts.

Kitana wasn't sure she even knew how to saddle up a horse.

Or why that thought even needed to exist given what was going on currently.

"Odd, I took four," Kitana's future half remarked, as she grabbed the reigns of one horse and lead it out of the subtle hiding spot. "Something must've grabbed one- can't say I'm surprised. Well Jade, it looks like you and I will be bunking up."

"I'm taking lead."

"The hell you are."

Kitana felt a knot in her throat as the reigns for one of the remaining horses was put in her hands. She knotted the worn leather around her fist for a moment before she forced herself up into the saddle.

It felt like she was just going through the motions, not really thinking about her next plan of action.

So much had suddenly been dropped on them, so much had changed from their original plans.

She wasn't exactly sure where they were in the grand scheme of things anymore.

She was pulled from her ongoing existential crisis by the touch of someone's hand on her arm, and she looked up to see Jade next to her; the woman looked far more comfortable on horseback than she did.

"Be honest, was this a mistake?" Jade questioned.

And Kitana wasn't sure if the woman was referring to them ditching Kotal where he stood.

Or to the faint arguing of their future selves going on in the background.

"I don't know," Kitana offered, vaguely at that. "I don't know anything anymore, but we're already here so we're in it for now."


End file.
